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Fear is a normal human emotion we all experience, and the famous and powerful are no different. While some famous figures suffer from more common phobias, others experience some rather unique fears.

Browse the gallery and check for yourself.

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Angela Merkel, who served as chancellor of Germany from 2005-2021, released her memoir 'Freedom' in November 2024. The book revisited a widely-covered incident from 2007 when she met with Vladimir Putin in Sochi. Knowing that the Russian president was in the habit of bringing out his pets during visits with foreign diplomats, she asked one of his aides to prevent this as she had a fear of dogs. Despite the agreement, Putin brought out his black labrador, Koni, during their meeting in front of a room full of photographers and journalists. "Did he just want to see how a person reacts in distress? Was it a small demonstration of power? I just thought: stay calm, concentrate on the photographers, it will pass," Merkel wrote.

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When asked about that decision in an interview after the book's release, Putin denied any awareness of Merkel's phobia. "Frankly - I've already told Merkel, I didn't know she was afraid of dogs. If I'd known, I would never have done it. On the contrary I wanted to create a relaxed, pleasant atmosphere," he claimed. Russian journalists smirked as he appealed to Merkel for forgiveness.

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Kim Basinger opened up about her struggle with agoraphobia on an episode of 'Red Table Talk.' The actress revealed that it began as a child as she observed her mom dealing with severe anxiety. Basinger felt like she always needed to be home with her mom to protect her and help her, and would even make up excuses to get out of school so she could do so. She developed anxiety problems herself with evolved into agoraphobia as she got older. Agoraphobia is defined as an "anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel trapped, helpless, or embarrassed." For many, this means becoming reclusive and avoiding going out in public.

▲Basinger recalled an incident where she started to have a panic attack while buying groceries at the store and barely made it back to her car. After that, she didn't drive again for more than six months. She eventually stopped doing things like going out for dinner, and eventually, stopped leaving the house at all. "Everything used to make me nervous,” Basinger remembered, "You live with a dry mouth all the time, you’re very shaky, you’re just so exhausted all the time." She spent months in treatment and slowly relearned how to drive, go outside, and interact with people again. Basinger credits her daughter, Ireland Baldwin, with helping her heal and come out of her shell again.

▲The country star is afraid of sea urchins.

▲"They are sitting there, waiting to completely injure you... You could lose your foot. You could lose your hand. You could lose your hand trying to get it off of your foot!" she told Ellen DeGeneres.

▲Rihanna suffers from ichthyophobia, or the fear of fish.

▲In fact, she has said that she is afraid of sea creatures in general. She says that one time in Barbados she "saw all these tiny fish swimming around my feet, and I had a panic attack. I just froze."

▲The late chef and TV personality may have had the strangest fear of all: Switzerland. That's right, he refused to film in the country famous for peace.

▲“I must have had some terrible childhood experience while watching 'Sound of Music' that I blocked out," he once said.

▲The actor is afraid of pigs, sometimes called swinophobia.

▲On the set of his movie 'Kingdom of Heaven,' a pig reportedly escaped, causing the actor to freak out. Bloom reportedly stayed in a van until the animal handlers put the pig back into the cage.

▲The actor reportedly suffers from coulrophobia, the irrational fear of clowns.

▲“It’s impossible, thanks to their painted-on smiles, to distinguish if they are happy or if they are about to bite your face off," Depp has said of his phobia.

▲The former model and TV personality is afraid of dolphins.

▲She has said she's been afraid of them since she was eight or nine. "You may think a dolphin is sweet and cuddly — to me, they're not. And I feel anxiety and panic whenever I'm confronting or even thinking about or talking about a dolphin."

▲The former NSYNC star suffers from arachnophobia, or the fear of spiders.

▲Arachnophobia is one of the most common phobias out there.

▲Osbourne is afraid of being touched, a fear known as haphephobia.

▲Her brother said that "All you have to do is just touch her collarbone. It’s awesome, she starts dry-retching.”

▲Oprah suffers from a rather unusual phobia: chiclephobia, or the fear of chewing gum. This rare phobia includes the fear of chewing gum, coming close to a person chewing gum, or the sight of previously chewed gum.

▲Oprah has said she once threw out the plate a guest had used at her house because the person had placed chewing gum on it.

▲The actor and musician's phobia is a strange one: furniturephobia, or the fear of antique furniture.

▲He has said that his "phobias have been greatly exaggerated. I don’t mind a chair. I can go as far back as you want with Asia or Mexico. It’s that French/English/Scottish old mildewy stuff. Old dusty heavy drapes and big tables with lions’ heads carved in it. Stuff that kings were around."

▲The actress suffers from bacteriophobia, or the irrational fear of germs.

▲Fox has said she avoids using public restrooms and using restaurant silverware at all costs.

▲Fox also doesn't like the dark. She has said: "I’ve been afraid of the dark all my life… I leave the lights on all the time and if the light is off, I have to run across the room to get to the switch."

▲The actor is reportedly afraid of going bald. This is an actual phobia, named peladophobia.

▲The actor has reportedly undertaken treatment to prevent hair loss, which may be surprising considering he has a full head of hair.

▲The actor has a fear of public speaking.

▲To him, public speaking is "a mixed bag of terror and anxiety." He experiences the same feelings even when a character he is playing must make a speech.

▲The Queen of Pop suffers from astraphobia, or the fear of thunder.

▲Madonna reportedly checks the forecast before performing outdoors.

▲Like Timberlake, the TV star also suffers from arachnophobia.

▲She has admitted that she will fly out of rooms shedding her clothes at the sight of a spider.

▲The actress suffers from ornithophobia, or the fear of birds.

▲"Something about wings and beaks and the flapping… I’m terrified of them," she has said.

▲Another strange one on the list. The actress is freaked out by house plants.

▲She thinks they're dirty and just looking at them gives her the willies.

▲The actor really dislikes tunnels, which could be a symptom of claustrophobia, the fear of being in small spaces.

▲"I really don’t like that blindspot when you’re driving and go into a tunnel,” he said.

▲We've all heard about the fear of birds, but the singer-songwriter fears a very specific one: seagulls.

▲She has described an incident in which she was attacked by a seagull as she ate an ice cream, which is the reason behind her fear.

▲'The Matrix' actor suffers from scotophobia, or the fear of darkness.

▲He said that he is afraid of the dark "in a real philosophical way.”

▲The 'Friends' star suffers from aviophobia, or the fear of flying.

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Aniston has said that it can be so intense that she resorts to alcohol for help, which doesn't even really help.

▲The Princess of Pop has herpetophobia, or the aversion to reptiles.

▲This is one of the common animal phobias.

▲The former soccer star suffers from ataxophobia, or the fear of untidiness.

▲He sorts things by “color, size and quantity.” When he enters a hotel room, he has to move all the leaflets and all the books and put them in a drawer before he can relax.

▲The actress is afraid of horses.

▲Her fear has roots in a childhood accident when she fell off one and dislocated her elbow.

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The 'Baywatch' star suffers from eisoptrophobia, which is the fear of mirrors or seeing oneself in a mirror.

▲She has been quoted saying: “I have this phobia: I don’t like mirrors. And I don’t watch myself on television. If anything comes on, I make them shut it off, or I leave the room.”

▲The actress has lepidopterophobia, or the fear of butterflies.

▲"It's so bizarre. I'm not afraid of snakes or spiders. But I'm scared of butterflies," she once said.

▲The actress and singer is said to hate dirt, which is similar to being afraid of germs.

▲She reportedly can't get into bed before cleaning her room several times.

▲The actor has dentophobia, or a fear of dentists.

▲De Niro believes that dentistry equipment can and will cause diseases.

▲The vampire slayer is afraid of cemeteries.

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Her fear arises mainly because she is also afraid of being buried alive, so she has always associated cemeteries with that.

Celebrities worst phobias

Some famous figures suffer from common phobias

28/04/25 por StarsInsider

CELEBRITY Phobias

Fear is a normal human emotion we all experience, and the famous and powerful are no different. While some famous figures suffer from more common phobias, others experience some rather unique fears.

Browse the gallery and check for yourself.