Cyndi Lauper: Which trait in yourself do you like least?

The question

Which trait in yourself do you like least?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's The Q&A has retained this Proust-derived prompt from at least 2007 through 2026, and ABC independently put it to the Obamas in 2011.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Cyndi Lauper

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I cut people off a lot when I talk. It’s a terrible habit.

Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2020 source ↗

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Audra McDonald Singer and actor

If hoarding and procrastination were Olympic sports, I’d have at least 70 gold medals.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, August 2023 source ↗

Bruno Tonioli Italian choreographer

I don’t think anyone should deplore anything about themselves. You can always improve things, but by deploring you’re putting yourself on a losing streak.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 April 2023 source ↗

Hugh Skinner

Catastrophising.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 May 2026 source ↗

Keith Richards

Modesty and humility.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, January 2003 source ↗

More from Cyndi Lauper

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Question What most recently moved you to tears? Identity & self

At a function for the True Colors Fund, where formerly homeless gay and transgender kids were telling their stories. It was heartbreaking.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 April 2014 source ↗

Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

A world where greed rules.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2020 source ↗

Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

Aside from my mom, my husband, and my mother-in-law, Gloria Steinem, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, and RBG.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2020 source ↗

Question What does happiness look like for you when life is going well? Identity & self

Long walks with my husband. Being with my family. Making music, and writing when songs just fall together. And maybe a cannoli. Just one.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 3 April 2020 source ↗

Question What trait do you most dislike in other people? Values & belief

Two-faced phony-baloneys.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, April 2020 source ↗

Question If you could alter one thing about yourself, what would it be? Identity & self

I’ve constantly been changing myself my whole life. I am what you would call “a piece of work” in progress.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 3 April 2020 source ↗

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