Celebrities' Biggest Phobias

Big stars, big fears

We live in a world where celebrities are treated like gods—but really, they're just like us. And, like the rest of us, they have their fair share of fears, both rational and irrational.

Kylie Jenner

Kylie Jenner has a very interesting phobia: she doesn’t like dust in cups. Calling it a “pet peeve,” Jenner worries about ingesting dust that might have accumulated in a cup. Given that she’s very likely been brought up in a house where she never had to do the dusting herself, perhaps this is a well-founded fear.

Goodfon

Kylie Jenner (again)

Circling back to Kylie—another of the reality star’s great fears is butterflies. Yes, butterflies, those pretty, delicate little insects that dance about on flowers and trees through the summer. Called lepidopterophobia, Jenner says her fear stems from the insects really not being very pretty if you removed their wings.

GoodfonDJ Khaled

There are fears, and then there are phobias. A fear might cause a bit of discomfort, but a phobia can affect your whole life. Hip-hop producer and performer DJ Khaled doesn’t just fear heights—he is petrified of them. Khaled claims to have not flown on a plane for over a decade. Just how does he get from show to show?

Meghan Roberts, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Kristen Bell

Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell has a history of having her strong feelings exposed online. A clip of her breaking down over a sloth at her birthday party went viral a few years ago, causing fans everywhere to fall in love with her all over again. Husband Dax Shepard revealed on Instagram that Bell has a phobia of feeling pruney fingers on skin, going so far as to wear gloves in the swimming pool.

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Martin Freeman

Martin Freeman, best known for his roles in The Hobbit trilogy, and Sherlock, fears something that millennials apparently can’t get enough of: avocados. When cutting open an avocado, Freeman says, “I see the stone, I envision that stone…lodged in my windpipe.” Totally understandable, Martin; though we’re not sure why the avocado pit would ever be that close to your mouth.

GoodfonTyra Banks

Criticism from other fashionistas? Tripping on the runway? These would be understandable fears for a practiced model and fashion icon like Tyra Banks. But Banks actually fears a creature that many people see as a wonderful and calming animal: dolphins. Even talking about them causes the America’s Next Top Model creator to feel flutters in her stomach.

Juice Group, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Sir Laurence Olivier

Widely considered to be one of the greatest actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Sir Laurence Olivier was an accomplished performer on both stage and screen. It may surprise you to find out, then, that he suffered from glossophobia, a great fear of public speaking. Other stars of the stage and screen like Marilyn Monroe and Barbara Streisand also share this fear, but it doesn’t seem to have stopped them from becoming renowned performers.

Allan warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Khloé Kardashian

Reality star Khloé Kardashian admits that she hates belly buttons. It’s not so much that she doesn’t like the feature itself, but the feeling of touching one, or having hers touched. Kardashian, taking a page from Kristen Bell’s fear, admits to wearing mitts in the shower so she doesn’t have to feel her own navel.

Eric Longden, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Liam Payne

We have to wonder how Liam Payne’s great fear affects his ability to snuggle. The former One Direction star has a real fear of spoons! Payne blames the fear on a strange punishment from when he was in school: those who were naughty were made to wash the dishes. Of all the cutlery he had to clean, the spoons are what caused him the most trauma.

Alesiax, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Hans Christian Andersen and Frederic Chopin 

Phobias are not solely relegated to living celebrities. Both famed fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen and composer Frederic Chopin suffered from taphephobia, the fear of premature burial. At a time when medical science was not quite as advanced, the possibility of being mistakenly believed dead was much higher.

Thora Hallager, Wikimedia Commons

Danielle Jonas

Reality television star and spouse of Kevin Jonas, Danielle Jonas has a fear that’s not so uncommon and that’s completely understandable. She doesn’t like balloons. But while many of us may share this fear as a result of the loud bangs that a bursting balloon produces, Jonas has a different take on the fear—it’s the lack of control in the movement of balloons that she doesn’t like.

NBC, The Tonight Show

Matthew McConaughey

Oscar-winning star Matthew McConaughey has portrayed some tough customers in his career. Just his role on True Detective would surely cure him of any fears he might have! But not so. McConaughey admits to having a great deal of anxiety over revolving doors. And we get it. Sometimes it’s so hard to figure out when you should hop in, and how fast you should walk. Maybe just using a regular door would be a good option.

All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Kendall Jenner

Kendall Jenner suffers from something called trypophobia. A trypophobe is uncomfortable with tiny holes in random patterns. Think about how pancake batter looks as it starts to cook and you’ll get a good idea. Jenner says lotus heads are the worst for her.

GoodfonJohnny Depp

If you ever wanted to have something in common with mega-star Johnny Depp, it might be that you share a very common fear with him. The Edward Scissorhands and Pirates of the Caribbean star suffers from coulrophobia, a fear of clowns. Depp considers there to be something sinister about the make-up and attitude of clowns, going so far as to surround himself with them to “ward off all evil.”

Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia Commons

Roald Dahl and Margaret Thatcher

Roald Dahl was a British children’s author, best known for his classic work Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Margaret Thatcher was a controversial British Prime Minister of the 1970s and 1980s. Both Brits suffered from pogonophobia, the fear of beards, with Dahl going so far as to write an essay on the “disgusting” facial affectation.

Terence Donovan, Wikimedia Commons

Katie Holmes

Katie Holmes has a phobia we can all understand. She revealed that she has a great fear of raccoons. Describing a confrontation with one of the creatures, she realized that it wasn’t really scared of her, and that's what scared her! With their opposable thumbs and wily intelligence, we totally understand Holmes’ discomfort with these fuzzy bandits.

Flickr, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Hugh Jackman

Does it ruin things if we tell you that Wolverine is afraid of dolls? Okay, it’s not just any dolls, but dolls that come to life in horror movies. With such horror movie dolls as Chucky, Anabelle, and Billy the Puppet from Saw, we can’t really blame him. We wonder what Jackman’s reaction to Disney’s Pinocchio would be.

Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Scarlett Johansson

Ironically, it was in a 2011 interview with Vulture that Avengers star Scarlett Johansson revealed her fear of birds. Claiming discomfort with the “wings and beaks and the flapping,” it sounds to us like Johansson might have been traumatized by Hitchcock’s The Birds. That said, given that birds evolved from dinosaurs, maybe Johansson is onto something…

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Justin Timberlake

One fear that many people seem to share is arachnophobia, the fear of spiders. Singer and actor Justin Timberlake is so put off by the eight-legged creatures that he has had to have hotel staff come to his room to remove the creatures. Spiders are really great for keeping down buzzing insect populations, but their strange looks and ways just seem to creep a lot of people out.

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Nicole Kidman

The second lepidopterophobe on our list, Academy Award-winner Nicole Kidman has been afraid of the fluttering insects since she was a child. Kidman claims that she would go to great lengths to avoid butterflies or moths when she came across them as a child, and has gone to similar lengths to try to overcome her fear. But to no avail—she still finds butterflies uncomfortable.

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Robert Pattinson

No, the Batman and Twilight star isn’t afraid of sparkly vampires. Robert Pattinson is afraid of horses, finding them to be overwhelming in their size and speed. A real trooper, Pattinson has had to perform with horses in the film Water for Elephants, and confronted his fear for the sake of his art.

Maximilian Bühn, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Rita Ora

We said at the beginning there were some strange fears on the list, and Rita Ora’s definitely qualifies. The “R.I.P.” and “How We Do” singer is afraid of toilets. Ora’s fear comes from a worry that the toilet could be a two-way tunnel, and that something at the other end of the flush might come up and…well, we’re not sure what she thinks might happen.

MARIO DE ARMAS, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Stephen King

If there’s anyone we could understand having a wide range of fears, it’s horror author Stephen King. King’s books have very likely been the inspiration for the fears of millions of readers around the world. So what freaks out the master of fear? The number 13. Known as triskaidekaphobia, this fear is sometimes said to stem from Biblical stories. King notes he’ll never stop writing “if the page number is 13 or a multiple of 13.”

The USO, Flickr

Christina Ricci

Considering the number of very creepy films that Christina Ricci has starred in, we’re surprised that there’s anything left that could scare her. Her big fear comes from a seemingly innocuous place: house plants. Ricci not only finds the idea of plants being indoors unsettling, but also says that having to touch one “freaks me out.”

Miguel Discart, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Christina Ricci (again)

Along with her distaste for house plants, Christina Ricci has a couple of very specific water-based fears. One is a fear of sharks, which, if we’re honest, is a completely understandable, and common, fear. The other is a fear of swimming pools, specifically being alone in a pool. Ricci has said that she worries that “a door would open up in its floor and swallow her alive.”

Paramount, The Addams Family (1991)

Macaulay Culkin

The star of Home Alone is not afraid of people breaking into his house. At least, not any more than anyone else. He does suffer from agoraphobia, a fear of being outside. This kind of phobia can be quite debilitating, with Culkin noting that he “felt like the buildings [outside] were going to eat me.” Agoraphobia can lead to isolation, and became a concern during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Megan Fox

The Transformers and Jennifer’s Body star admits to a distaste for dry paper. Fox likens her response to dry paper to the way many people feel about the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard, and keeps a glass of water handy whenever she is reading something that hasn’t been laminated. 

Spc. Ethan Ford, Wikimedia Commons

William Shakespeare

If you’re an English literature or drama buff, can you recall any mention of cats in any of the works of William Shakespeare? Known as one of the greatest writers who ever lived, writer of Romeo and Juliette, King Lear, and Hamlet among many others, the Bard of Avon was also known to suffer from ailurophobia, the fear of cats. 

John Taylor, Wikimedia Commons

Carmen Elektra

This one is really quite surprising. Carmen Elektra rose to fame in the 1990s on the beach-based drama Baywatch, playing a lifeguard opposite star David Hasslehoff. Elektra, however, is absolutely terrified of the ocean, as she is unable to swim. We wonder if she mentioned this during her audition, or kept it to herself until she got the part.

Greg2600, CC BY-SA, 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Gustav Eiffel

You may not know who Gustav Eiffel was, but you probably recognize his very famous last name. Eiffel was the French civil engineer responsible for the design of Paris’s iconic Eiffel Tower. Ironically, given the size and scope of Eiffel’s project, the designer was terrified of heights, a condition known as acrophobia.

Nadar, Wikimedia Commons

Jennifer Aniston

At one time one of the most successful and highly-paid actors in the world, Jennifer Aniston has a relatively common fear that she shares with the aforementioned DJ Khaled—she fears flying. Many celebrities share this fear, including Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson, and Whoopi Goldberg, despite the safety record of air travel.

Chuck Kennedy, Wikimedia Commons

Timothy Leary

In the 1960s, Timothy Leary was considered one of the most dangerous men in America due to his anti-government views. Leary spent much time on the run and in jail, all the time harboring an intense fear of getting his hair cut. This may not have been a problem in a time when long hair on men was in style, but when his mane got too long, Leary went so far as to cut his own hair.

AP News, Wikimedia Commons

Britney Spears

At the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears wowed the audience by performing with a giant yellow python. Spears recalled being scared during the performance, and with good reason—she suffers a fear of large reptiles, most notably lizards like the komodo dragon. In the case of the komodo dragon, we can understand, and even with a well-behaved snake, Britney showed some real bravery.

Rhysadams, Flickr

Steve Jobs

A co-founder of Apple Computers, Steve Jobs is known for his technological innovations and for his distinctive style. Often pictured in a turtleneck, Jobs suffered from koumpounophobia, a fear of buttons! While his fear most likely led directly to his fashion choices, tech legend also has it that a fear of buttons influenced some of his early computer design choices.

Ben Stanfield, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Keanu Reeves

Star of The Matrix and John Wick film series, Keanu Reeves suffers from a very, very common phobia—nyctophobia, the fear of the dark. While many people suffer this fear, primarily through childhood, some never get over the fear and are still quite unsettled once the sun has set and the lights are off.

Governo do Estado de São Paulo, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Madonna

One of the undisputed queen of pop music, Madonna has been an international celebrity since her debut in the mid-'80s. The pop icon is apparently quite scared of thunderstorms, a condition known as astraphobia. Thunderstorms have long been a source of fear, and is among the most common phobias.

Chrisweger, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Salvador Dali

If you’re familiar with Salvador Dali’s surrealist paintings, you might think he would have an unusual, even unique, fear or phobia. But the artist, known for painting ants into many of his great works, suffered from entomophobia, the fear of bugs and insects. Legend has is, after mistaking a pimple for a flea, he sliced his own back with a razor blade.

Allan Warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons