PHOTOS6 of Donald Trump's Unusual Phobias and Fears — From Falling Down Stairs to Going Bald
Bathmophobia
Donald Trump has shown his fear of falling down the stairs or slopes several times in public.
Donald Trump was often spotted holding hands with the former U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, but it was not some sort of romantic gesture.
After suffering from criticism and speculations that she was too close to the former president, May told Andrew Marr Show that she was only helping Trump up and down the slopes and stairs due to his "medical problem."
"What you notice is that whenever he takes me down a slope or stairs – he did it up the steps at Blenheim Palace – he takes my hand to help in going up the steps," she continued.
Although there were handrails most of the time, Trump's other phobia also played a part in his choice to hold onto someone instead.
Dangerous Fruits
While it is not an official phobia, Donald Trump developed the fear while doing his campaign rallies.
In excerpts from Trump's sworn deposition from a 2022 trial, Trump expressed his worries that dangerous fruits could be thrown at him by protesters. He named tomatoes, pineapples and bananas as the fruits that were unsafe for him.
"You can get killed with those things," he told Benjamin Dictor, the lawyer representing the protestors. "I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit. And some fruit is a lot worse than – tomatoes are bad by the way. But it's very dangerous … they were going to hit – they were going to hit very hard."
Galeophobia
He recently made a bizarre rant saying he would rather be electrocuted than eaten by a shark.
Adult film star Stormy Daniels made a revelation in her 2011 interview with In Touch, confirming that Trump is terrified of sharks.
"You could see the television from the little dining room table, and he was watching Shark Week, and he was watching a special about the USS something and it sank and it was like the worst shark attack in history," she said.
Daniels alleged that while Trump is obsessed with sharks, he is reportedly scared of them.
On Sunday, October 1, he held a campaign rally in Iowa, where he declared that he would rather die by electrocution than be eaten alive by a shark.
"But if I'm sitting down and that boat's going down and am on top of the battery and the water starts swelling in, am getting concerned," Trump said. "Then I look 10 yards to my left and I see a shark over there."
He also declared during a rally in Scranton, Penn., in 2020 that sharks should not be protected because he was not "a big fan" of them.
Germaphobia
His fear of germs also made it hard for him to deal with his other alleged phobia bathmophobia.
Trump also left everyone confused when he talked about his fear of germs.
Insiders said he relies on people's hands whenever he goes up and down the stairs and slopes because of his bathmophobia and germaphobia. However, holding people's hands is one of the signs of being afraid of germs – something he seemingly forgets whenever he needs to face his fear of stairs.
He has been open with his germaphobia, especially during public outings. There was also a video, shared by CNBC, showing Trump with prostitutes in a hotel room where the women urinated on the bed.
He vehemently denied the claims.
"Does anyone really believe that story?" he asked the audience at a news conference at Trump Tower in New York City in 2017. "I'm also very much of a germophobe, by the way. Believe me."
There were also times he refused to handshake with other leaders and politicians during photo opportunities, capturing Trump giving a slight grimace.
Phalacrophobia/Peladophobia
Viral videos showed the harsh reality of Trump's struggles with hair loss.
During the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md., in February 2018, he told the conservative activists that he tried to hide his bald spot by parting his hair.
John R. O'Donnell shared the story of Trump's fear in his book Trumped! The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump—His Cunning Rise and Spectacular Fall, detailing the former president's "tremendous fear" of losing his hair.
"He once observed to Mark [Etess] that he considered baldness a sign of weakness," O'Donnell said. "He gave a tube of the gel he used to Mark, warning him: 'The worst thing a man can do is go bald. Never let yourself go bald,' as if nature could be circumvented through sheer force of will."
Toxiphobia
Donald Trump's former aide revealed another phobia he has in a recent interview.
Former aide Cassidy Hutchinson appeared on the Wednesday, October 4, episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! where she revealed that Trump has "a very potent fear of being poisoned."
"So he uses and prefers the small Heinz glass bottles because he likes to hear his valet, whoever is serving him this meal. He likes to hear the pop when he…" she explained before Jimmy Kimmel interrupted her and asked whether he had developed the fear of being poisoned from all the ex-wives he had.
Trump previously shared a similar statement when he said that he finds eating products from fast food chains safer than restaurants.
