Sweating, anxiety and nausea Swedish minister suffers from banana phobia

Swedish Minister Paulina Brandberg suffers from a banana phobia. Documents now show that her staff have to check rooms for the yellow fruit before every visit.

Some people are afraid of spiders, others of heights. However, the Swedish Minister for Gender Equality, Paulina Brandberg, suffers from a very special phobia: a banana phobia. She herself calls it the "strangest phobia in the world".

Banana phobia is rare. When sufferers see or smell the fruit, they can experience profuse sweating, anxiety and nausea.

"I get professional help"

Brandberg told the Swedish newspaper "Expressen": "I get professional help." Employees of the minister speak of a "severe allergy" that Brandburg has.

The newspaper has now published internal documents that show how the minister deals with her phobia at work. Her employees have to ensure that no bananas can be seen or found before external appointments, and emails to this effect are also sent to the hosts in advance. Accordingly, "no traces of bananas should be found in the rooms."

Other politicians support Brandberg

Even Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson explained on Thursday that the phobia did not affect his cabinet member's work. "I am surprised when a hard-working minister is reduced to a phobia and people make fun of it. I think we should be better than that."

There is also support for the liberal politician from the opposite political camp: Teresa Carvalho from the Social Democrats wrote on X: "We have been through many tough negotiations about conditions in working life. But in this case, we stand together against a common enemy." Carvalho wanted to express that she herself has a deep aversion to bananas.

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