Madonna
Known for pushing the boundaries for lyrical content, Madonna has proven she is a ‘material girl’ but as far from conventional as you would expect. And her phobia of thunderstorms is her ultimate demon – she suffers from astraphobia, which is the technical term for the fear of thunderstorms.
Orlando Bloom
Yes, the former Pirates of the Caribbean hunk has an extremely unusual and certainly irritational fear of pigs. One look at the animal and Orlando Bloom is said to squabble with an uncontrollable fear. This phobia of farmyard animals in particular is known as swinophobia, and it does affect his line of work as an actor. When filming Kingdom of Heaven back in 2005, a pig had escaped on set, and Orlando Bloom reportedly ran like crazy. Perhaps it’s a clear and definitive sign he will not take on a role if pigs are involved in the making of it…
Katie Holmes
Tom Cruise’s ex-wife, Katie Holmes has a deep-rooted fear of raccoons – which is said to drive her ‘barking mad’ and you’ll find out why. It’s not often you come across raccoons but for Holmes, it is a real problem. She describes her phobia when on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show, claiming that ‘this raccoon comes right up, like right there, and I’m expecting it to be more afraid of me and I’m staring at it and it’s staring right back like he’s gonna kick my butt and I didn’t know what to do so I just stood up and barked at it and he just ran away.’
Pamela Anderson
We all know that if you break a mirror, you are bound to seven years of bad luck, but for Pamela Anderson, famous for her role in Baywatch, claims she has eisoptrophobic – a fear of mirrors. Researchers and experts have dubbed this phobia as one relating to superstitious beliefs and how a mirror apparently reflects your soul. With a mirror a clear necessity of life, we wonder how she gets around this one…
Scarlett Johansson
A lot of people have a fear of birds, also known as Ornithophobia and Scarlett Johansson, one of Hollywood’s famous beauties does not shy away from her phobia. Ironically, Johansson filmed We Bought a Zoo, which is of course featured a few beaks and feathers, and she describes her experience in an interview with New York magazine’s Vulture supplement as ‘I’m terrified of them. That still hasn’t gone away…I was terrified of the peacocks on set. Like ‘Ahh, don’t get too close. They’re like, mean.’
Johnny Depp
Who would have thought that an acclaimed actor like Johnny Depp would have a fear of clowns, though a very common phobia among people? Having played on-screen clowns such as Willy Wonka and Jack Sparrow, Depp is certainly used to his playful side on screen. However, off screen, Depp cannot stand clowns and has a real fear of the white faced, colored eye patched humans. In an interview, he comments that ‘Clowns scare me. I have this fear of clowns, so I think if I surround myself with them, it will ward off all evil’.
Nicole Kidman
Butterflies, flutterbies, whatever you call them, these magical winged creatures are meant to be wings of colorful paradise. Though for Nicole Kidman, butterflies are not her favorite. Her phobia stems from a larger fear of flying insects which is lepidopterophobia – a mouthful we know!
Alexa Chung
In an interview with The Times newspaper, Alexa Chung described an unfortunate incident which has scarred her for life from eating olives. She had whiskey and olives one day, in one sitting and ‘I think something happened with the two and they turned to poison. I didn’t stop puking. Disgusting. Olives stuck in my nose. I’ll never be able to look one in the face again’.