Megan Fox Makes 10 Celebrities with OCD
May 20, 2010— -- Megan Fox may get down and dirty in her movies, but in real life she likes things clean, very clean.
The bombshell actress and model admitted this week that she has an OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"This is a sickness, I have an illness, this is not OK anymore," Fox told the latest issue of Allure magazine.
Her problem: public toilets and restaurant silverware.
The "Transformers" star told Allure that she won't use toilets without seat covers: "I'm never doing that again. Every time someone uses a bathroom and they flush, all the bacteria is shot into the air."
She also opened up about her feelings on restaurant silverware: "Putting my mouth where a million other mouths have been, just knowing all the bacteria that you carry in your mouth? Ucch!"
Fox, 24, is the latest celebrity to confess she suffers from OCD. If it seems as though OCD and celebrity go hand-in-hand, there's a reason. So many celebrities have admitted to having the condition.
OCD is an anxiety disorder that at its basic level is a fear of one's thoughts, whether it's a fear of messiness, germs or something else. To relieve the anxiety associated with such intrusive thoughts, an obsessive-compulsive will feel compelled to behave in a certain way, such as cleaning out their cabinets before going to sleep or avoiding touching doorknobs.
Stephen Whiteside, a psychologist at the Mayo Clinc in Rochester, Minn., who specializes in anxiety disorders including OCD, said there's no research to show that celebrities are particularly predisposed to OCD.
But he said the characteristics of OCD, which include checking, frequent washing and being extremely organized, could be helpful to a person if utilized on a more "typical level."
"It would make sense that people with these types of traits can be highly successful," he told ABCNews.com. "And celebrities are highly successful people."
Whiteside said the term OCD is often misused, but it's a condition many people can relate to. Some of us wash our hands even when we don't need to or double check the lock on a door even though we know it's already locked. For many people, these are mild disruptions in their day; for others, OCD can completely put their lives on hold.
Clearly, many of the celebrities, including Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Love Hewitt, who have admitted to having OCD have managed to work around their disorder in order to lead successful lives. With more celebrities going public with their OCD, Whiteside said he hopes the stigma of what was once called the "hidden epidemic" can diminish and more people will seek treatment.
On the next page, read about some other celebrities with OCD:
