diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/9809-proxmox-fix-status-getter.yml b/changelogs/fragments/9809-proxmox-fix-status-getter.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eef4ab072e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/9809-proxmox-fix-status-getter.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - proxmox - add missing key selection of ``'status'`` key to ``get_lxc_status`` (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/issues/9696, https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/9809).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/proxmox.py b/plugins/modules/proxmox.py
index 4f25b90ad0..035de02521 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/proxmox.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/proxmox.py
@@ -1655,7 +1655,7 @@ class ProxmoxLxcAnsible(ProxmoxAnsible):
             proxmox_node = self.proxmox_api.nodes(node_name)
         except Exception as e:
             self.module.fail_json(msg="Unable to retrieve node information: %s" % e)
-        return getattr(proxmox_node, self.VZ_TYPE)(vmid).status.current.get()
+        return getattr(proxmox_node, self.VZ_TYPE)(vmid).status.current.get()['status']
 
     def format_vm_identifier(self, vmid, hostname):
         if vmid and hostname: