Alfred Hitchcock’s Fear of Eggs Made Him Gag
The master of suspense had one of the strangest phobias imaginable – a terror of eggs that bordered on the ridiculous. Alfred Hitchcock was an ovophobic, going “Psycho” if he ever saw an egg, specifically runny ones. This wasn’t just a casual dislike; it was a full-blown phobia that affected his daily life in ways you wouldn’t expect from someone who created nightmares for millions.
The famous director was afraid of eggs (“ovophobia”) and once told a reporter “have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid?” Imagine the man behind Psycho being completely undone by breakfast preparation. People who worked with Alfred claimed that cracking an egg made him gag, and he wouldn’t eat any food containing eggs.
Billy Bob Thornton’s Antique Furniture Terror
Most people find antiques charming or valuable, but Billy Bob Thornton experiences something closer to horror when he sees old furniture. Billy Bob Thornton hates antiques so much he refuses to stay in a room with furniture from before 1950. This phobia goes beyond mere discomfort – it literally affects his ability to function in certain environments.
Angelina Jolie’s ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton is not only afraid of airplanes, but is also a chromophobic (he fears bright colors) and is scared of antique furniture. The “Bad Santa” star refuses to stay in a room with furniture built before 1950. “Maybe it’s a past life thing and I got beat to death with an old chair,” Thornton once said. “But I’m totally serious. I can’t eat around antiques.” He swears that they make him “gag.”
Taylor Swift’s Sea Urchin Nightmare
The pop superstar has an unexpected fear that keeps her out of certain tropical waters. “They’re like a grenade,” the blond beauty says of sea urchins, explaining why she finds the creature to be so creepy. “They’re sitting there waiting to completely injure you.” Swift’s fear isn’t entirely irrational, but her level of terror certainly is extreme.
“You can’t see a sea urchin if you in the Caribbean,” Swift continues, determined to prove her point. “You’re like this water is so beautiful and amazing…and then you step on one and it has barbs and it goes into whatever it touches, and then you have to go into the emergency room and get it surgically removed. You could lose your foot, you could lose your hand, you could lose your hand trying to get it off your foot.” Talk about catastrophic thinking taken to the next level.
Oprah’s Chewing Gum Phobia Runs Deep
The media mogul has such an intense fear of chewing gum that she’s completely banned it from her workplace. Oprah Winfrey seems a bit special, including her crippling angst around gum and the people who chew it. This isn’t just a preference – it’s a genuine phobia that stems from childhood trauma involving her grandmother.
Oprah Winfrey has a fear of gum, aka “chiclephobia.” Winfrey attributes it to her grandmother’s habit of lining up pieces of chewed gum in a cabinet. Winfrey has reportedly banned gum from the offices of Harpo Studios. “I grew up poor in Mississippi and my grandmother – absolutely no hyperbole whatsoever – my grandmother used to try to save gum, so she would put it on the bedpost, she would put it on the cabinet,” she told Stephen Colbert. “As a child, I used to bump into it and it would rub up against me, and you know what it’s like when you’ve taken it out of your mouth and it’s been out a couple of weeks?”
Johnny Depp’s Clown Terror Despite Playing Quirky Characters
Ironically, the man who transformed into Jack Sparrow and the Mad Hatter can’t handle the sight of clowns. Celebrities who have been upfront about suffering from clown phobia include rapper-singer Sean (P.Diddy) Combs, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and heartthrob Johnny Depp. This fear is particularly interesting given Depp’s career playing eccentric, painted-face characters.
“Coulrophobia” is the fear of all clowns (not just evil clowns), and even though Johnny Depp has played some weird characters, playing a clown is not in his future. Depp has been quoted as saying “something about the painted face, the fake smile” is what makes him petrified of clowns. It was even reported that he banned his wife Amber Heard from watching American Horror Story: Freak Show due to the clown in the cast.
Keanu Reeves’ Philosophical Fear of Darkness
The Matrix star has admitted to being afraid of the dark, but not in the way you might expect from a typical childhood fear. In an interview with Hello magazine, Keanu Reeves admitted to being afraid of the dark – but maybe not in the “jump back into bed so the bogeyman doesn’t grab your ankles” kind of way. “I am afraid of the dark,” he said. “But I mean that in a real philosophical way.”
What exactly does this philosophical fear mean? What exactly does that mean? We may never know. And no doubt Keanu Reeves is also relieved that “The Matrix” is just a movie, because he is a scotophobic who dreads darkness. Perhaps he sees darkness as representing the unknown or existential dread rather than just the absence of light.
Christina Ricci’s Fear of Indoor Plants and Swimming Pools
The former Addams Family star has not one but two unusual phobias that affect her daily life. Christina Ricci cannot stand to be around house plants, which would be known as a form of botanophobia. She finds them dirty and shudders at the idea of watering one. “If I have to touch one, after already being repulsed by the fact that there is a plant indoors, then it just freaks me out.”
But that’s not all – Ricci also has an irrational fear of swimming pools. Christina Ricci is deathly fearful of being alone in a swimming pool as she believes that ‘a door would open up in its floor and swallow her alive’. Ricci is allegedly also deathly afraid of sharks. She is also deathly afraid of being in a swimming pool alone. She always imagines “a magic door is going to open and a shark is going to come out.”
Nicole Kidman’s Butterfly Phobia Seems Impossible
One of the most surprising celebrity phobias belongs to Nicole Kidman, who is terrified of butterflies. In a interview with In Style, Nicole Kidman confessed to being terrified of butterflies. “It’s so bizarre. I’m not afraid of snakes or spiders. But I’m scared of butterflies,” said Kidman. This seems particularly strange given that butterflies are typically associated with beauty and transformation.
Nicole Kidman is afraid of butterflies. Once, bravely, she tried walking through a butterfly exhibit at a museum, but couldn’t make it. As a young girl, Nicole wouldn’t even enter her home if a butterfly was sitting on the entrance gate. The idea of someone being afraid of these delicate creatures while having no fear of actually dangerous animals like snakes seems almost backwards, but phobias rarely make logical sense.
Matthew McConaughey’s Revolving Door Panic
The laid-back actor has an unusual fear that makes navigating certain buildings a nightmare. The Hollywood superstar suffers from the fear of getting trapped in a revolving door. McConaughey once said in an interview, “I don’t like revolving doors, and I really don’t like that blind spot when you’re driving and go into a tunnel.”
If you want to lose Matthew McConaughey in less than 10 days, just make him go through lots of tunnels and revolving doors. She also deals with one of the most common fears, claustrophobia, which is the fear of enclosed spaces. Actor Matthew McConaughey also suffers from this fear. This makes perfect sense when you think about how revolving doors can make someone feel trapped between the glass panels.
Megan Fox’s Paper Phobia Affects Her Acting Career
For someone whose job involves reading scripts constantly, Megan Fox has developed an unusual coping mechanism for her fear of paper. On an episode of The Tonight Show, Fox told host Jimmy Fallon that she hates and fears dry paper. She confessed that when she reads scripts, she keeps a cup of water by her side, so that she can dip her fingers in before turning the page.
Megan Fox, who reads scripts for a living as an actress, is afraid of paper and prefers to touch it only when it’s laminated. Megan Fox, who reads scripts for a living as an actress, is afraid of paper and prefers to touch it only when it’s laminated. Imagine having to negotiate special accommodations with every director and producer just so you can handle the basic materials of your profession.
Madonna’s Thunder and Lightning Terror
The Queen of Pop, known for her fearless stage presence and controversial performances, has a surprisingly common but intense phobia. The powerful woman, it appears, has a debilitating fear of thunderstorms. Madonna, who has spent her whole childhood surrounded by massive amounts of sound and light, is terrified of lightning and thunder.
The queen of pop is afraid of storms and lightning, a condition known as brontophobia. She also deals with one of the most common fears, claustrophobia, which is the fear of enclosed spaces. It’s particularly ironic that someone who creates such powerful sensory experiences on stage would be undone by the natural light and sound show of a thunderstorm.
David Beckham’s Obsessive Need for Perfect Order
The soccer superstar’s fear goes beyond normal tidiness into the realm of genuine phobia. The British soccer player David Beckham can’t stand mess and disorder and this phobia that is similar to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). “I have to have everything in a straight line or everything has to be in pairs,” he admits.
Giving Thornton a run for his money is 90210’s newest neighbor, ataxophobic David Beckham. This doesn’t mean the soccer star dreads tax time – ataxophobics despair disorder and untidiness. In Beckham’s closest, everything must be color coordinated, his soda cans are lined up perfectly in the fridge and he evens buys clothes to match his furniture. “Everything has to match in the house,” his wife, Victoria, told People magazine two years ago. This level of need for control and order suggests that disorder genuinely causes him distress rather than just annoyance.