PM
Going back to addiction.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 January 2023 source ↗
The question
What do you fear most?Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
The exact prompt is fixed in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire and independently sustained in The Guardian's The Q&A over multiple decades.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
View all 256 →
Cybill Shepherd
American actress and former model
Dying in a plane crash and having somebody else get top billing.
Drowning. The feeling of not being able to take a breath. I’m sure my therapist would have something to say about the deep psychological reasons for it.
Being run over by a cyclist on a pavement or pedestrian crossing, because it’s nearly happened too frequently.
Living a life of regret because of fear.
More from Paul Merson
View profile →On holiday in Orlando with my wife, Kate, and kids just before lockdown. I wasn’t drinking or gambling. I was so happy, so at peace with myself – I’d been searching for that for many a year.
Nothing, because it’s up to me how I feel. I’ve been a millionaire three times and I still wanted to kill myself.
That materialistic things will not make you happy.
When you jump out of addiction and look back, things like drink-driving and sitting in crack houses are not good.
Thirty-odd years ago I bought a black pinstripe suit which I thought was £900. But when I went to pay that was just the jacket – the trousers and waistcoat were extra. I didn’t have the balls to put anything back. I dread to think how much it cost me in the end.
Walsall fans. I wanted to be a good manager but I was really bad with drink and gambling at the time. I should have done better.
More on identity & self
- Which trait in yourself do you like least? 239 answers
- As a child, what career or life did you imagine for yourself? 197 answers
- What most recently moved you to tears? 192 answers
- What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? 158 answers
- How would you sum yourself up in three words? 114 answers
- What fills you with the most pride? 103 answers
Also answered this
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Scottie Pippen, Serena Williams, Ally McCoist, Derek Jeter, Rafael Nadal
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All identity & self questions
- The The Proust Questionnaire questionnaire — 5 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject