Being afraid to fly is a very common phobia – be it the take off, that claustrophobic feeling or whatever else, there are loads of reasons why flying might not be considered fun and even frightening for those who have to do it. These 5 celebrities have all battled their fears, some overcoming it and others still struggling with it over time. Some go to the extreme and try to avoid flying as much as possible, even driving or walking to avoid having to step aboard an aircraft! Others had to be in the air for a role and decided to tackle their fear head on and thankfully managed to put it behind them.
Sandra Bullock
Sandra had to overcome her fear of flying for space movie ‘Gravity’ and found it difficult: “I’m petrified of flying. Plummeting out of the sky was not my idea of how I wanted to work with Alfonso Cuaron. But at one point I sat down and said, ‘What is it about this movie that is telling me to get off my a** and get over something that has paralysed me?'”
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan got over his fear for his part in ‘Green Lantern’: “I’m not a big flyer at all. I’m a little afraid, I’ve always had problems with airplanes… But, in the film, I’m up on high wires all the time. Sometimes (flying) 60 feet (18 meters) a second. It was really terrifying at first. But my nieces and nephews were just so excited about this movie. And I kept thinking about them and them coming to see this film. So you kind of (have to) get over all of that.”
Sean Bean
Sean prefers to drive or walk even if it takes him much longer: “My parents were afraid of flying and it rubbed of on me. I used to drive to all my film locations in Europe but I couldn’t when it came to filming The Lord Of The Rings in New Zealand. But I wouldn’t get into a helicopter with the rest of the cast. They had to wait for me to walk up the mountain and join them before they could start filming.”
Zoe Kravitz
Zoe thinks she got it from her father: “Aeroplanes terrify me. I fly a lot, but every time, I have a silent panic attack beforehand. My dad, Lenny, doesn’t like flying either, so I might have inherited it from him. It just feels so unnatural flying through the air with zero control. I used to have a glass of wine to calm me down, but I can’t do that every time I fly.”
Julia Stiles
Julia was on a very long flight and it made her panic: “It’s the longest flight I’ve ever been on – 11 hours from London to LA. It’s also during the day so I don’t sleep at all. I actually had that moment where I thought, ‘This is the moment where I develop a fear of flying.’ I’m very claustrophobic now.”
