Teenager With Phobia Of Michael Jackson Opens Up About How The Phobia Started

The woman who gained fame for documenting her in-the-moment Michael Jackson phobia has spoken out about how the unusual phobia got started.

In the viral video, Ruby Marriott, who was on vacation, was seen in a pub in Ayia Napa noticeably upset by a Michael Jackson impersonator playing behind her.

The video's caption reads: "Our first night in aiya napa took a turn for the worse," alongside onscreen text saying: “My sister has a phobia of Michael Jackson”.

In the video, 18-year-old Ruby can be seen acting quite uncomfortably while a man in a red jacket and black pants does dancing moves similar to Michael Jackson to the tune of "Thriller."

The video went viral in a couple of hours after being posted on TikTok, getting an astounding nine million views. Some have even called for the young woman to make an appearance in the upcoming season of ITV2's Big Brother.

Ruby, a resident of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, has finally spoken about her anxiety.

“I have a genuine fear of Michael Jackson," she said. "It all started when I was younger at about five years old. My sister and my cousin used to show me creepy edited videos of him that people made and conspiracy theories that he’s alive."

To be fair, it's not exactly the sort of thing a five-year-old wants to be seeing.

She went on to say: “'Thriller' is the main song that scares me, mainly because of watching the music video when I was younger and it is one of his biggest hits so it’s played around me a lot."

However, it was the house they were staying in while on a family vacation to Los Angeles that cemented the phobia for her.

"There was a door with about eight padlocks on it and one of my family members jokingly said ‘what if Michael Jackson is hiding in there?", knowing my phobia of him.

"Every night for three weeks, I had the same nightmare of him creeping out of the wardrobe and coming for me while I was asleep. It was awful!"

And even though a lot of time has gone since these formative events, Ruby's fear of the "King of Pop" hasn't at all diminished.

Ruby spent her first night in Ayia Napa to celebrate the wedding of her uncle and aunt. She went into a "really quiet" bar with her family, but little did she know that this quiet bar would be responsible for ruining her night.

She said of the viral video: "We had no idea about any tribute acts so we went in and had a few rounds of drinks. I was enjoying it a lot, we were all dancing, taking photos, and having a laugh.”

"It wasn’t until half an hour in that I heard the start of Thriller playing and I instantly started panicking.”

"I turned around and saw a Michael Jackson impersonator dancing around on the dance floor next to me. I ran over to where my family was sitting and instantly started crying and panicking even more."

Ruby was screwed up for the rest of the evening and had to FaceTime her boyfriend to settle down.

After sharing the video with her friends, who 'found it hilarious,' her sister Macey tweeted it.

Ruby initially didn't think much of her sister's video, but she has since stated: "I am finding it funnier now, but it hasn’t changed how I see Michael Jackson."