10 Celebrities Who Have Strange Phobias
Fame doesn’t protect anyone from fear. Celebrities walk red carpets, perform to thousands, and face cameras without flinching. Yet put them near a butterfly or a revolving door, and suddenly Hollywood’s bravest people are acting like they just saw a ghost. These phobias are real and often revealed in interviews that fans still quote.
Megan Fox: Dry Paper
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A normal sheet of paper doesn’t look threatening, yet it has reportedly made this American actress uncomfortable for years. She has been linked to papyrophobia, a strong aversion to paper, especially the dry texture. That’s a cruel twist for someone who’s spent her life surrounded by scripts. The irony seems even more complex when people mention she sometimes prefers laminated pages.
Oprah Winfrey: Chewing Gum
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Oprah Winfrey famously treated chewing gum like a contaminant. She’s spoken openly about how it disgusts her, especially the sound and the sight of it being pulled from someone’s mouth. It stems from her childhood spent living with her grandmother, where the older woman would save used gum and stick it on furniture in rows for later re-use. It’s so bad that Oprah once threw out a dinner plate after a guest placed used gum on it.
Johnny Depp: Clowns
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Johnny Depp has coulrophobia and isn’t shy about explaining why. He told reporters there always seemed to be a darkness lurking just under the surface with clowns, a potential for real evil. The painted-on smiles make it impossible to tell if they’re happy or about to attack. Despite playing quirky characters throughout his career, including the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, Johnny can’t shake this deep-seated fear.
Channing Tatum: Porcelain Dolls
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There’s a special kind of fear reserved for objects that stare at you without blinking. Porcelain dolls sit at the top of that list for Channing Tatum, who admitted on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that they terrify him. The actor finds them freaky with their real-looking eyes, imagining their heads turning to follow him. Ellen, being Ellen, whipped out two creepy porcelain dolls and wrestled with him to make him hold them.
Rita Ora: Toilets
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Bathrooms are meant to be relaxing, but Rita Ora has admitted she worries something could come up from the toilet. It’s the kind of fear that sounds ridiculous until it plants itself in your mind like a cursed idea. The entertainer has described turning on the light and being extra cautious, because in her head, there’s a tunnel leading to a surprise attack. This phobia proves horror movies are not far from the human imagination.
Kyra Sedgwick: Talking Food
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When Kevin Bacon was offered a role as a dancing, singing M&M, Kyra Sedgwick put her foot down. She revealed on The Late Late Show with James Corden that she has an issue with talking food, saying it makes her sick to her stomach when she sees commercials where an Oreo slides down a cream slide. Any anthropomorphizing of food freaks her out, and she leaves the room when they appear on TV.
Tyra Banks: Dolphins
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Dolphins have a reputation as friendly sea comedians, but Tyra Banks doesn’t trust the act. She once admitted that the animals trigger anxiety and panic for her, even thinking about them. Some of us forget phobias don’t need contact. The brain can do the whole horror movie internally. Tyra discussed it on her show with intensity.
Matthew McConaughey: Revolving Doors
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Revolving doors are like a public pressure test. Step in too early and you get trapped. Step in too late and you clip the stranger in front of you. Matthew McConaughey has shared that revolving doors make him anxious, which feels incredibly fair for anyone who’s ever fumbled one while pretending everything is fine. Revolving doors demand timing, and Matthew would rather not perform that awkward little spin for an audience.
Danielle Jonas: Balloons
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Kevin Jonas’ wife has globophobia, which makes party planning stressful. The reality star shared on Married to Jonas while preparing for a family party that balloons scare her. The unpredictable movement of balloons and the way they hit things makes her feel like everything is out of control. Then there’s the anticipation of balloons popping, which makes her anxious and turns parties into minefields of floating terror.
Nicole Kidman: Butterflies
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Growing up in Australia, Nicole Kidman developed lepidopterophobia after traumatic encounters with massive butterflies and moths. She would come home from school to find the biggest butterfly or moth sitting on her front gate, forcing her to climb over the fence and crawl around to the side of the house. Kidman has tried to overcome this fear, even walking into the butterfly cage at the American Museum of Natural History, but nothing worked.