9B COMMUNICATIVE Famous phobias
9B COMMUNICATIVE Famous phobias
Student A Scarlett Johansson This famous American actress has katsaridaphobia, which means she’s afraid of cockroaches. She’s had the phobia since she was a child, but it got worse when she lived in New York at the beginning of her career. Once, she woke up with a cockroach on her face and another one in her shoe! Since then, she’s absolutely hated them. She’s also quite afraid of birds, which was a bit of a problem for her while filming We Bought A Zoo. True or false? Student B Justin Timberlake This singer and actor is from the USA. He has to travel a lot because of his job, and sometimes the arachnophobia he suffers from is a problem for him. He’s been afraid of spiders for a long time. He thinks his phobia started at the age of seven or eight when he found a spider in his bed. Last year, he was staying in a hotel and saw a spider in the bathroom. He couldn’t kill it, so he asked the receptionist to come and kill it for him! True or false? Orlando Bloom Have you seen Pirates of the Caribbean? If you have, then you’ll probably remember this actor who appears in the film. But this ‘brave’ actor has a serious phobia which is swinophobia. This means that he is afraid of pigs. He has been afraid of them since he was a teenager. Although this phobia isn’t very common, it’s had a direct effect on his career. A director asked him to be in the film Animal Farm but Orlando said no because it meant that he had to work with a pig. True or false? Rihanna This famous singer and actress comes from the island of Barbados. So perhaps it’s strange that she has ichthyophobia – she is afraid of fish and other sea animals. She’s had this phobia for a long time. Once, she was on a beach in Barbados and she went in the water. She could see lots of small fish swimming around her feet. She was so afraid that a man had to take her out of the water. Since then, she’s been really afraid of them. True or false? Oprah Winfrey This American
a child. It started when she saw her grandmother putting her chewing gum in the kitchen cupboards. True or false? Robert De Niro This Hollywood mega-star is probably one of the greatest actors of all time. However, many of us have something in common with him. He has dentophobia, which means he’s afraid of the dentist. He has suffered from it since he made the film Cape Fear. Before filming, he paid a dentist $5,000 to make his teeth look bad enough for the role of Max Cady in the film. Then, after filming, he paid a dentist $20,000 to repair his teeth. That’s dedication to his job! True or false?