Becoming deaf and blind, which is what happened to my father.
What is your greatest fear?
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Identity & self
Question
What happens when we die?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the worst job you have done?
Craft & work
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.
Crashing in an aeroplane into an ocean at night.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 April 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 266 →Something happening to one of my children.
David Lynch
Film director, screenwriter and painter
I’ve had this fear…the fear of being restricted—in every way.
Dependency. Fascism.
More from Meghann Fahy
View profile →A blood clot in my artery when I was 23.
In my 20s I was in a show called The Unauthorised Autobiography of Samantha Brown. The actor who played my dad messed up his lines and it made me laugh so hard that I ended up peeing my pants.
I had a casting director once stop me in the middle of an audition and tell me to go wash my face in the bathroom because she felt my makeup was too distracting, but I wasn’t wearing any. It was mortifying. It felt like a power play and I was so young, I didn’t know what to do.
Curious, thoughtful and kind.
Being alive on Earth is challenging and I like to believe that whatever happens after is filled with peace and ease.
I’ve never really had a horrible job – I liked working at restaurants and being a nanny when I wasn’t acting.
More on identity & self
- Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? 252 answers
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? 204 answers
- What most recently made you cry? 193 answers
- What is your idea of perfect happiness? 161 answers
- How would you describe yourself in three words? 114 answers
- What are you most proud of? 109 answers
Also answered this
Christian Louboutin, Mike Wallace, Yo-Yo Ma, Audra McDonald, Nick Frost, Shakin' Stevens
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