NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. has spoken about his two 'biggest fears', admitting that one of his is somewhat unusual.
Playing a version of the Newlywed Game with his wife of eight years Amy Earnhardt on the Dale Jr. Download, the 49-year-old discussed his fear of jewelry, describing his feelings as 'mostly disgust'.
Even Earnhardt Jr.'s wedding ring is made of wood, which he usually replaces with a silicone ring in order to avoid his relatively delicate wooden ring getting damaged.
Having previously explained 'I don’t like wearing it, and I don’t like being close to it', the NASCAR Hall of Famer appears to suffer from a condition called kosmemophobia – the fear or phobia of jewelry.
Why does Dale Earnhardt Jr. have a fear of jewelry?
"It’s mostly disgust. It’s mostly like ... it’s more grossy nausea. The daintier and lighter and smaller the piece of jewelry, the more ick. It’s an ick."
He also discussed the day-to-day impact of his unusual fear, with his wife joking that she puts on extra jewelry to punish her husband if he's annoyed her.
"Sometimes she goes out, and she goes out with her friends or whatever and she wears whatever she wants to wear, and she sometimes comes home and forgets she’s got it on…and I don’t say anything, but I’m just like cringing inside," he said.
"But then there are times when she’ll wear jewelry and my immediate thought is, 'What did I do? What did I do that pissed her off? I’ve done something. I’m getting punished'."