Khloé Kardashian is used to having her life dissected in public, but her latest confession cuts deeper than a typical reality TV storyline. The star has revealed she is living with a rare dating-related phobia that is shaping everything from her love life to how she structures her days. It is a strikingly vulnerable admission from someone who has already been open about fears that range from belly buttons to whales, and it is forcing a fresh conversation about what it means to date when anxiety is running the show.
Instead of brushing it off as a quirky personality trait, Khloé is naming the fear, talking about how “scary” it feels, and listening to experts who say it may be more common than people think. That mix of celebrity candor and clinical language is giving fans a new vocabulary for something many quietly live with but rarely see reflected on screen.
What Sarmassophobia Looks Like In Khloé’s World
Khloé Kardashian has now put a label on what she is going through, telling viewers she suffers from chronic Sarmassophobia, a fear of dating and romantic situations that goes far beyond nerves before a first dinner. She has described it as “so scary,” framing it as a mental block that kicks in whenever the idea of getting close to someone new comes up. Reporting around the confession links that fear to years of public heartbreak and cheating scandals, suggesting that repeated betrayal has wired her brain to see romance as a threat rather than a source of comfort.
On camera, Khloé has talked about how this anxiety shows up in the small, practical choices she makes. Instead of swiping on apps or saying yes to setups, she keeps her schedule packed with work and parenting, a pattern experts say is common for people who feel safer avoiding intimacy altogether. One analysis notes that people in her position often pour themselves into their careers or children “Instead, they focus intensely on their work or children or both,” a line echoed in guidance that “When Khloe is ready to date again she should try Exposure Thera,” a reference to exposure-based therapy that was floated in a piece examining why When Khloe feels “safe” staying single.
From Belly Buttons To Whales, Her Long History With Fear
Khloé’s fear of romance is landing in a context where fans already know she has some very specific phobias. Years before Sarmassophobia entered the chat, she was candid about being “so freaked out” by belly buttons, especially while pregnant, worrying about what might happen to her own navel as her body changed. She once joked that people around her had “snapped about my bellybutton fears,” a reaction that highlighted how unusual the fixation sounded even to those closest to her, and that anxiety was captured in coverage of how Kardashian processed pregnancy.
Her discomfort with navels goes back even further. In a 2016 appearance, she laughed about how her biggest phobia was belly buttons, explaining that she could not stand anyone touching hers and that even seeing one up close made her skin crawl, a moment preserved in a clip where Khloe Kardashian Reveals that fear on camera. More recently, she has also talked about being terrified of whales, a fear that turned into a running storyline when her daughter True Thompson started teasing her about it. In one episode, Khloé joked that True “bullies” her for the phobia, a dynamic summed up in coverage headlined “Khloe Kardashian Has A Fear Of Whales & Says Daughter True Thompson ‘Bullies’ Her For It,” which noted how Khloe Kardashian Has turned even that fear into a kind of family in-joke.
That whale anxiety has played out visually too. In a recent season premiere, True orchestrated a prank that involved whale imagery, pushing her mom right up against the edge of her comfort zone. Khloé later admitted that even seeing the animals on a screen felt “too close for my comfort,” a line that captured how visceral the reaction is and was highlighted in a recap of how NEED fans to know just how intense that fear can be. Put together, the belly button fixation, the whale panic and now Sarmassophobia sketch a picture of someone whose life is shaped by very real, very specific anxieties, even as she jokes about them on screen.
Expert Help, Online Reactions And What Comes Next
Khloé’s decision to name Sarmassophobia has not just sparked memes, it has also drawn in mental health professionals who see an opportunity to demystify a lesser known condition. One therapist offered her a free consultation after she publicly claimed she has this rare dating phobia, using the moment to outline what she could do to overcome it and how structured exposure to safe romantic situations might slowly retrain her brain. That offer was detailed in a piece noting that Khloé Kardashian Gets, which framed her confession as a springboard for broader education about anxiety and relationships.
More from Vinyl and Velvet:
Leave a Reply