Danielle Steel
Novelist
Losing another child. (I lost one of my sons to suicide when he was 19.)
What is your greatest fear?
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
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.
It was reading out loud, but no longer. (I am dyslexic.) I was encouraged by my husband to do a speech for the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which helped me gain my confidence, and the fear disappeared.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 September 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 256 →Pain of any sort.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Basketball player and author
Years ago, before I had my current manager, I was taken advantage of by people I’d trusted with my finances. That’s made me especially sensitive to the prospect of financial ruin. I’m constantly advising young athletes to be vigilant when it comes to whom you trust with your finances.
Every actor has the same fear – ie, you’re never going to work again.
More from Penny Lancaster
View profile →Trusting someone and being let down.
Less time on my phone.
I would be less naive.
An English teacher said, “You’ll never make anything of yourself.”
Lack of empathy.
The children. As a mother you are constantly worrying whether you’ve done the right thing.
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Also answered this
Laurie Metcalf, Takashi Murakami, Tuppence Middleton, Harlan Coben, Jean Smart, Toby Stephens
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- All identity & self questions
- The The Proust Questionnaire questionnaire — 5 questions from the same format
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