Neither spiders nor heights: the unusual phobias of movie stars

Neither spiders nor heights: unusual phobias of movie stars

Although we always see actors on screen, red carpets, and at various events, we must not forget that they are ordinary people just like us. This means that they also have various fears in their hearts. Some fears stem from childhood, while others appeared after achieving fame. Even large salaries, prestigious awards, and many fans cannot rid them of these anxieties. Sometimes these fears take on truly extraordinary forms.

The famous "Bad Santa" actor suffers from one of the strangest fears — the fear of antique furniture (a condition also known as epiplafobia). Billy Bob Thornton says that when he sees an old chair, table, or cabinet made before the 1950s, he feels nauseous and suffocated.

In particular, French antiques from the era of Louis XIV terrify him. His character in the movie "Bandits" experiences the exact same condition. Meanwhile, modern furniture made of plastic or metal does not evoke such negative feelings in him.

Nicole Kidman has lepidopterophobia — a fear of butterflies and moths. This fear has haunted her since her youth. Every time the Australian actress returned from school, she would see large butterflies at the gate of her house. To avoid encountering them, she would climb over the wall or take a detour.

Importantly, the actress has tried to overcome her fear. One day, she entered a butterfly cage at the American Museum of Natural History. However, this did not help — the actress still cannot tolerate even the accidental touch of insects. But she is not afraid of snakes or spiders at all.

Scarlett Johansson suffers from ornithophobia, which is the fear of birds. As the actress herself said, almost everything about birds scares her: their beaks, their wings, and the flapping of their wings.

The master of suspense, who terrified millions of viewers around the world... Well, what could Alfred Hitchcock be afraid of? The answer will surprise you: chicken eggs. This is called ovophobia. The director said that he had never tasted an egg in his life and could not even look at others eating them.

Even the appearance of an egg frightened him; he considered it disgusting and terrifying. By the way, the great creator was also afraid of police officers. For preventive purposes, his father once asked an acquaintance to lock little Alfred in a cell for 5 minutes.

The actor, who has created many spine-chilling characters, has been afraid of clowns since childhood. Johnny Depp always felt that something evil was hidden under the mask of a cheerful face, which is why we are unlikely to see him in the movies "It" or "Joker".

Nevertheless, he wanted to try the "fight fire with fire" method: he hung pictures of clowns on the walls of his house and even collected their figurines. Still, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star admits that he still feels very uncomfortable when he sees a live clown.

Among those who prefer an e-book to a classic book, Megan Fox will undoubtedly be the first. This is because she suffers from a rather rare papyrophobia — such people cannot tolerate touching dry paper. Therefore, reading scripts poses a great difficulty for her. If she does not have a glass of water at hand, she does not start reading. To turn the pages easily, she always dips her fingers in water, otherwise she gets nervous shivers.

Those who cannot tolerate the sound of chalk writing on a blackboard probably understand the "Transformers" star well; the actress compares this feeling to exactly that. For this reason, she prefers to work with digital copies. She also has a fear of the dark, which is common among many people, so when she is left alone, she still does not turn off the lights in the house.