According to psychologists a phobia is an excessive fear of objects or some situations. Its symptoms often lead to breathlessness, a sense of unreality, dizziness, nausea or even a fear of dying. Everyone can suffer from some kind of anxiety or hang-up. Today we’re looking at particular celebrities who have developed several bizarre fears in life. Did you know that …?
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Justin Timberlake has been afraid of spiders for a long time (arachnophobia). In one of numerous interviews he said that his phobia started at the age of seven when he found a hairy spider in his bed. Justin also recalled a situation he had when travelling around the world. „I was staying at a nice hotel and I had to call reception because I spotted one in my room. I was too scared to get rid of it myself.”
Nicole Kidman suffers from lepidopterophobia which means that she gets cold feet when she sees a butterfly! Her fear can be a problem when she is making a film especially outdoors. Nevertheless, she has tried hard to overcome her angst.
Pamela Anderson is frightened of mirrors (eisoptrophobia). „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.” That’s hard to believe it, but she doesn’t hide the fact that reflective surfaces frequently give her the heebie-jeebies.
Scarlett Johansson isn’t fond of birds. From a psychological point of view, it’s called ornithophobia. In fact, any bird flapping its wings can give her the creeps. „I’m terrified of them. That still hasn’t gone away… I was terrified of the peacocks. Like, don’t get too close. They’re like mean.”
David Beckham hates a mess and he needs to keep everything in order. Ataxophobia is similar to OCD and relates to a fear of untidiness. That behaviour confirms Victoria Beckham, his wife – „If there are three cans of Diet Coke, he’d throw one away rather than having three because it’s uneven.” What’s more, David, who often stays at hotels, tends to „move all the leaflets and all the books and put them in a drawer” until he feels all the stuff is in the right place.
Christina Ricci, an American actress, suffers from botanaphobia. She tries to avoid house plants and she doesn’t have green fingers. And this is not all – Christina is afraid of swimming pools. If she’s alone, she imagines „a magic door is going to open and a shark is going to come out!”
Orlando Bloom may seem a brave man, but in reality he has a serious phobia. Have you ever heard of swinophobia? Well, this means that Orlando gets anxious when he sees a pig. This uncommon phobia has had a direct effect on his career.
As you can see celebrities are also human beings and they experience the same fears just like ordinary people. We shouldn’t laugh at them or anyone who is afraid of animals or different items. This time, we have a riddle for you. Can you figure out what the following phobias are about?
SŁOWNICTWO
- excessive – nadmierny
- dizziness – zawroty głowy
- nausea – nudności, mdłości
- anxiety – lęk, niepokój
- hang-up – uniezasadniony lęk, kompleks
- bizarre – dziwaczny
- recall – przypominać sobie coś
- get rid of – pozbyć się
- get cold feet – przestraszyć się, mieć pietra
- angst – strach, obawa
- heebie-jeebies – ciarki
- flap – trzepotać
- give somebody the creeps – przyprawiać kogoś o dreszcze
- peacock – paw
- OCD – nerwica natręctw
- uneven – nieparzysty
- have green fingers – mieć dobrą rękę do roślin
- figure out – wymyślić, rozwiązać (np. jakiś problem)
