Last of Us star Bella Ramsey reveals details of agonising condition that left them housebound ‘for months’

Last of Us star Bella Ramsey has opened up about a struggle with a debilitating anxiety disorder that made them view ‘everything as a threat’.

Affecting up to 6.5million people in the UK, emetophobia is a specific fear of vomiting or seeing others vomit—often accompanied by distressing symptoms of anxiety and obsessive behaviour, which in extreme cases can lead to complete isolation. 

Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast, the actor, 21, described the phobia as an ‘all-encompassing’ fear which resulted in them being unable to leave their home. 

‘Everything was a threat. You go out and it’s like you see germs, you see sickness everywhere. Terrifying.’

‘Every memory that I have of vomit, since nursey, is scary. I remember every single time anyone in my life has ever felt sick or been sick near me’, they added. 

Last year, the BAFTA award winner said on Emetophobia-Free’s YouTube channel that at one point the fear became so debilitating, it impacted every area of their life,  but being on set was the best distraction possible. 

‘I was anxious pretty much all the time, but the circumstances meant that I had to carry on regardless,’ they explained. 

 The actor said they also monitored the people around them for any signs of illness.

‘I did have a couple of panic attacks on set, you know, quietly. It was still on my mind every day and I would very conscious about what food I would eat on set and worried about if there was a bug going around, or who looked ill or who didn’t.’

According to the NHS, emetophobia is often accompanied by distressing physical symptoms of anxiety including increased heart rat, changes in breathing, feelings of nausea and light headedness.

The condition also appears to be coincide with other anxiety conditions, including OCD and panic disorder.  

‘There was a point in which I couldn’t leave my house. I couldn’t go outside because it felt like even the air around me was a threat. It was this pathological fear that I would get sick, feel sick, see vomit on the street. It was so terrifying that I couldn’t leave my house for a while,’ said the Game of Thrones.

Emetophobia is thought to affect up to 8 per cent of the world’s population and is often associated with a fear of losing control or being unable to escape from a place or situation. 

The condition is not widely diagnosed, even though it is one of the most common anxiety disorders, significantly affecting sufferers’ day-to-day life. It is also thought to affect more women than men. 

According to support group Emetophobia Free, people with the condition will often go to extreme lengths to avoid anything that may expose them to germs and could cause them to be sick. 

‘There were so many things I wouldn’t do,’ the star said. 

‘Getting on airplanes was a challenge. I had to because of work but I would literally get on kicking and screaming.

‘It impacted pretty much every area of my life. The fear definitely got worse as I got older,’ Ramsey said. 

‘But it’s such an irrational fear, I was so aware of how irrational it was and people with emetophobia often describe the same thing. Logically it’s not something to be afraid of’, they added.  

Treatment for the condition usually involves various forms of therapy—including exposure therapy—as well as antidepressants. 

Despite countless attempts to tackle the phobia through self-help books and hypnotherapy, the actor continued to struggle with the all-consuming condition until they came across Emetophobia Free’s The Thrive Programme.

The six-part training programme, designed by Rob Kelly, works by helping patients understand exactly what triggered their phobia, before teaching them how to overcome it. There is no exposure therapy involved and it can be completed remotely. 

Ramsey went on to say that the condition was likely linked to their recently-diagnosed autism.

They said: ‘Not all people who have autism or are on the autistic spectrum have emetophobia, but when I got that diagnosis, so much in my life made sense and so much of my experience growing up.’

‘I feel now that I am not emetophobic anymore,’ they added.