17 Completely Bizarre Celebrity Habits and Superstitions

By Jaycee Gudoy | Published

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Fame comes with its own peculiar weight. The spotlight doesn’t just illuminate talent — it magnifies quirks, rituals, and the strange little things people do to feel grounded in an ungrounded world. 

Some celebrities develop habits that seem almost mystical, while others cling to superstitions that would make your grandmother nod in understanding. These aren’t just eccentric behaviors — they’re coping mechanisms, creative triggers, and sometimes the last thread connecting a public figure to their private self.

Megan Fox

American actress Megan Fox arrives at The Daily Front Row’s 6th Annual Fashion Los Angeles Awards presented by Yes I Am Cacharel, Moroccanoil, Sunglass Hut, MCM, FIJI, Whispering Angel, and Sleep Spa Hastens held at the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on April 10, 2022 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency)

Fox refuses to flush public toilets. She’d rather walk away than touch the handle, even with her shoe. 

The actress has admitted this publicly, explaining that certain germs terrify her more than any horror movie role ever could.

And yet she’ll touch doorknobs, shake hands, sit in airplane seats. Go figure.

Nicolas Cage

Actor Nicolas Cage attends ‘Joe’ Premiere during The 70th Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2013 in Venice, Italy — Photo by arp

The actor owns a pyramid tomb in New Orleans — not for show, but because he genuinely believes it will serve him in the afterlife. Cage spent a considerable amount having this limestone pyramid built in the city’s oldest cemetery, complete with the Latin phrase “Omnia Ab Uno” (Everything From One) inscribed on its face.

But here’s the thing that gets overlooked: Cage researched burial traditions from multiple cultures before settling on this design, which suggests this isn’t just wealth run wild but something deeper — a man trying to control the one thing fame can’t touch, which is what happens after the cameras stop rolling. The pyramid stands nine feet tall, stark white against the weathered stones around it, waiting for an occupant who (as it happens) might outlive his own monument by decades. 

So much for planning ahead.

Jennifer Aniston

American actress and producer Jennifer Aniston wearing Versace arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘Murder Mystery 2’ held at the Regency Village Theatre on March 28, 2023 in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency)

Flying turns Aniston into a completely different person. Before every flight, she taps the plane’s exterior with her right foot — not a gentle touch, but a deliberate tap that flight attendants have learned to expect. 

She’s been doing this for over two decades, through commercial flights, private jets, even helicopters.

The ritual lives somewhere between prayer and quality control, as if her foot holds some engineering wisdom the maintenance crew missed. There’s something endearing about someone worth millions still needing to personally approve each aircraft, like checking the locks before leaving home.

Jack Nicholson

JANUARY 21, 2008 – BERLIN: Jack Nicholson at the German premiere of the movie “The Bucket List” (“Das Beste kommt zum Schluss”), Cinemaxx, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin. — Photo by 360ber

Nicholson believes certain numbers will literally kill him. Not metaphorically — literally. 

The actor structures his entire day around avoiding specific numerical combinations that he’s convinced are cosmically dangerous.

He won’t stay in hotel rooms ending in 3 or 7. He counts his steps between locations.

This isn’t casual superstition — it’s mathematical paranoia elevated to an art form, which is saying something for a man who built his career on playing unhinged characters.

Heidi Klum

Heidi Klum arrives at the 49th Annual People’s Choice Awards 2024 held at The Barker Hangar on February 18, 2024 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency)

The supermodel carries a bag of her children’s baby teeth wherever she travels. Not one tooth for luck — all of them, organized in a small pouch that accompanies her to fashion shoots, red carpet events, and international flights.

When asked about this, Klum describes it as staying connected to the most important part of her life, but there’s something wonderfully witchy about a woman who looks like she stepped out of Vogue carrying around what amounts to a collection of tiny bones (which, biologically speaking, teeth actually are). And while other mothers keep baby teeth in jewelry boxes or memory books, Klum treats hers like a talisman — portable proof that she created people, which perhaps feels necessary when your job is often about being photographed as an object rather than recognized as a person.

Benicio Del Toro

Benicio Del Toro at the award ceremony honoring Stella Adler with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA. 08-04-06 — Photo by s_bukley

Del Toro will not accept roles that require him to cry on camera before 3 PM. This isn’t about artistic temperament — the actor genuinely believes his emotional range follows a circadian rhythm that makes afternoon tears more authentic than morning ones.

Directors have learned to schedule around this quirk. Emotional scenes get pushed to later call times, reshuffling entire shooting schedules around one man’s conviction that grief has a timetable.

Cameron Diaz

Gambit world premiere in London with Cameron Diaz in 11 07 2012 — Photo by AlgimantasB

Door handles are Diaz’s nemesis. The actress opens doors with her elbows whenever possible, contorting herself into elaborate positions rather than use her hands. 

She’s been photographed pushing through restaurant entrances like she’s carrying invisible boxes, all to avoid palm contact with brass or steel.

But what’s fascinating (and slightly heartbreaking) is watching someone who radiates confidence in every other area navigate the world like it’s covered in traps. Diaz will fearlessly perform her own stunts, then spend five minutes figuring out how to exit the bathroom without touching anything. 

Fear makes philosophers of us all, but it makes contortionists of some.

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Paramount+’s Original Series ‘Landman’ Season 1 held at the Paramount Theatre at Paramount Pictures Studios on November 12, 2024 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency)

Thornton experiences physical revulsion around antique furniture. Not discomfort — revulsion.

His skin crawls, his breathing changes, and he has to leave rooms containing certain pieces from specific time periods.

The actor has described it as feeling the “residual energy” of everyone who touched these objects before him, which sounds mystical until you consider that antique furniture has literally been handled by hundreds of people, many of whom are now dead. Maybe Thornton isn’t irrational — maybe he’s just processing information the rest of us ignore.

Tyra Banks

LOS ANGELES – JUL 29: Tyra Banks arrives at the 2013 CBS TCA Summer Party at the private location on July 29, 2013 in Beverly Hills, CA — Photo by Jean_Nelson

Banks eats her salads in a specific order that resembles a clock pattern. She starts at twelve o’clock and works clockwise around the bowl, ensuring each bite contains the exact same ratio of ingredients. 

This process can take twenty minutes for what should be a five-minute meal.

Control tastes different when your body has been scrutinized professionally for decades. Banks has turned eating into geometry, which probably feels safer than leaving anything about her appearance to chance. 

So she measures lettuce like it matters, because in her world, everything actually does.

Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey at the Matthew McConaughey Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony at the Hollywood & Highland on November 17, 2014 in Los Angeles, CA — Photo by s_bukley

The actor talks to his deceased father before making major career decisions. Not metaphorically — McConaughey has full conversations with empty rooms, asking for guidance on scripts, directors, and life choices.

What’s remarkable isn’t the talking (plenty of people do that) but the listening. McConaughey waits for responses that apparently come as feelings, intuitions, or sudden clarity about what choice to make.

Katy Perry

Katy Perry to head to space on Blue Origin all-women flight on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. ELMONT, NEW YORK, USA – SEPTEMBER 11: American singer, songwriter, and TV personality Katy Perry wearing Who Decides War arrives at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards held at UBS Arena on September 11, 2024 in Elmont, New York, United States. (Photo by Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency)

Perry will not perform unless she’s wearing the same pair of gold earrings her grandmother gave her. These aren’t particularly special earrings — small hoops that cost maybe thirty dollars new. 

But Perry has worn them during every concert, recording session, and major performance since she started her career.

The earrings have been repaired, replated, and reinforced multiple times. Perry’s team keeps backup pairs that look identical, but she claims to know the difference and refuses the substitutes. 

There’s something deeply human about a woman who can afford any jewelry in the world clinging to the cheapest pieces she owns, as if success hasn’t quite convinced her she deserves to be where she is.

Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix at the 92nd Academy Awards – Press Room held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, USA on February 9, 2020. — Photo by PopularImages

Phoenix cannot start his day without reading every single review, comment, or mention of his name online. Not just professional reviews — everything. Social media posts, random forum comments, blog mentions from sites with twelve readers. 

This process often takes hours.

Most actors avoid reviews to protect their sanity. Phoenix seeks them out like they contain essential information about his own existence. 

It’s digital self-harm disguised as professional diligence.

Madonna

Madonna at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards Arrivals, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV 05-19-13 — Photo by s_bukley

The pop icon will not allow anyone to face north while speaking to her. North represents negativity in her personal belief system, so conversations require careful positioning to ensure everyone points toward what she considers more auspicious directions.

And yet her concerts are performed in venues where thousands of people face every possible direction simultaneously, which apparently doesn’t count. Personal space has different rules than public space, even when your personal space is occasionally Madison Square Garden. 

The woman who built her career on pushing boundaries still needs some boundaries to feel safe, even if those boundaries exist only in her head and involve compass directions.

Russell Crowe

Cannes, France – 15 MAY 2016 – Actor Russell Crowe attends ‘The Nice Guys (The Nice Guys-LA Detectives)’ – Photocall at the annual 69th Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals — Photo by tanka_v

Crowe owns a small collection of meteorites that he carries in his pocket during film shoots. Not replicas — actual space rocks that he’s purchased from collectors and verified through geological testing. 

The actor believes they help him access emotions that earthbound objects cannot.

There’s something wonderfully pretentious and completely sincere about method acting that involves literal pieces of other planets. Crowe reaches into his pocket and touches something that traveled millions of miles to end up in a movie about ancient Rome or maritime disasters.

Lady Gaga

LOS ANGELES – NOV 20: Lady Gaga at the 2016 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2016 in Los Angeles, CA — Photo by Jean_Nelson

Gaga performs a full exorcism ritual before every show — not on herself, but on the venue. She walks the entire space, including basement areas and storage rooms, asking any lingering spirits to leave peacefully. 

This process can take up to an hour for larger arenas.

What started as protection from negative energy has evolved into something resembling real estate negotiation with the supernatural. Gaga essentially asks ghosts to step out while she works, which is probably the politest way anyone has ever handled the problem of haunted concert halls.

Robert Pattinson

Actor Robert Pattinson at the Magnolia Pictures’ premiere of ‘Damsel’ held at the ArcLight Hollywood in Hollywood, USA on June 13, 2018. — Photo by PopularImages

The actor will not wash his hair during filming. Pattinson believes that natural oils and accumulating dirt help him access the character’s psychological state, so he avoids shampoo for entire shooting schedules that can last months.

Directors have learned to schedule intimate scenes early in production, before the method becomes too obvious to ignore. Pattinson’s co-stars have been diplomatic about this in interviews, which suggests professional courtesy has its limits.

Shailene Woodley

Shailene Woodley arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of PBS’s (Public Broadcasting Service) ‘Hope In The Water’ Season 1 held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on June 6, 2024 in Los Angeles, California, United States. — Photo by Image Press Agency

Woodley eats clay. Not as a dare or cleanse — as regular nutrition. The actress consumes specific types of edible clay that she orders online, believing it provides minerals unavailable in conventional food.

And here’s the thing that makes this less crazy than it sounds: humans have eaten clay for thousands of years in various cultures, and some types do contain beneficial minerals. Woodley might be the only person in Hollywood whose weird habit is actually supported by anthropological evidence, even if her reasoning involves detoxification theories that would make a biochemist wince. 

She’s basically following a paleolithic diet plan, which puts her somewhere between avant-garde and ancient.

When Ritual Becomes Refuge

Unsplash/ashleybatz

These habits reveal something tender about fame’s psychological toll. The bigger the spotlight, the smaller the things people need to feel human. 

A meteorite in the pocket. 

Baby teeth in a purse. 

Clay eaten like vitamins. 

These aren’t signs of madness — they’re signs of people trying to stay themselves in a business designed to erase the self.

Maybe the rest of us aren’t so different. Maybe we just have the luxury of keeping our strange little rituals private.

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