Lena Dunham: What does happiness look like for you when life is going well?

The question

What does happiness look like for you when life is going well?

Originally asked

Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire

Verbatim recurring item in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire; two publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.

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

Lena Dunham

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Unmade bed surrounded by books, writing utensils, and the dog; a plate of demolished toast with butter on my chest; loved ones puttering not too close but not too far.

The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 10 September 2014 source ↗

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Kevin Bacon

A family dinner. Candlelight. Lots of laughs.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 3 June 2025 source ↗

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Basketball player and author

Being surrounded by my friends and family. Just listening to them interacting, laughing, sharing. It is the culmination of everything I could have hoped for.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 27 August 2020 source ↗

Toni Collette

Floating on my back in the ocean.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 5 March 2025 source ↗

Alice Waters Chef, restaurateur and food activist

Shopping at the organic farmers market, buying whatever’s in season that looks the ripest and most vibrant, and bringing it home to cook with my friends.

Recorded The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 28 July 2021 source ↗

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

Casual cruelty; the wearing of essential oils.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2014 source ↗

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

My uncle, Edward Wood Dunham. He has Parkinson’s disease and faces every day with bravery, humor, and a gin-and-tonic.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2014 source ↗

Question What do you fear most? Identity & self

To lose the ability to do my work.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2014 source ↗

Question Which trait in yourself do you like least? Identity & self

An “elastic” sense of time (fancy way of saying I am late a lot).

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, September 2014 source ↗

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