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

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Jerry Lewis American comedian, actor and filmmaker
When the audience walks toward the stage.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, August 2011 source ↗
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.
Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, February 2025 source ↗
Fay Ripley English actress, television presenter, cookbook author
Spiders, needles, blood, pain and breaking wind in public.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 November 2022 source ↗

More from Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Question How has a setback or failure set you up for later success? Failure & regret
Well, maybe it was successful in the end. But, I mean, to get there - one of the things that I talk about is not to be afraid of failure because you're going to fail. And I was 19 years old. I was competing in the Mr. Universe contest, and I lost. I had movies that went in the toilet. I have had policy issues and referendums that went in front of the people that I lost. And, of course, in my personal life, you know, my marriage is a big loss. So there's a lot of losses and failures that I've had. And I think that it is important that we recognize that. But no matter what it is, I always had an exciting life and always chased something, and that made, to me, the whole thing worth it. I always felt I was enriched by the fact that I always knew where I was going. And then there were some things that were unexpected. Like, running for governor was something that kind of unfolded only because there was a recall election.
Recorded A Martínez, Morning Edition, NPR, 6 October 2023 source ↗
Question Do you rely more on inspiration or discipline to make your work? Craft & work
It's just, I would say, faith. I had very clear visions of me being a champion. When I saw this picture of Reg Park on a cover, standing there like - as Hercules, from the Hercules movies, I looked at that, and then I looked at the inside and I read the story, and I immediately started creating visions of me standing there on the pedestal at the Mr. Universe contest and me being Hercules and me doing movies and so on. And that created such unbelievable drive and such unbelievable will and discipline, that there was absolutely no stopping me. I mean, I went to the gym two hours every day lifting weights. When I came home afterwards, I lifted an extra hour and a half and did bodybuilding training, and it was just relentless.
Recorded David Greene, Talk of the Nation, NPR, 2 October 2012 source ↗

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Elton John, Patrick Stewart, Nancy Pelosi, Patti LaBelle, Jon Sopel, Whoopi Goldberg

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