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International Business Times
International Business Times
Maryam Khanum

Gender Equality Leader Demands All Official Meetings Be Completely Banana-Free Due to 'World's Craziest Phobia'

An email addressing a county administrative board sent from Brandberg's team also requested "no bananas are allowed on the premises." (Credit: Jessica Gow/TT)

It sounds bananas!

Email correspondence from one Swedish minister and her team indicates the official has a crippling fear of bananas, a phobia so intense that she requests the fruit be removed from any room she has to enter.

The banana phobia is mentioned in multiple emails from Gender Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg and her staff, which were obtained by Swedish news tabloid Expressen.

"Paulina Brandberg has a strong allergy to bananas, so it would be appreciated that there are no bananas in the areas where she will be staying," states an email addressed to the Norwegian Judicial Agency ahead of a VIP lunch.

An email addressing a county administrative board sent from her team also requested "no bananas are allowed on the premises," reported POLITICO.

"It's sort of an allergy, you could say," Brandberg told Expressen on Wednesday.

"It's something that I get professional help with," she added in a follow-up email to the tabloid.

Brandberg has also admitted to the phobia herself in years past, posting to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) about it.

"I have a phobia of bananas," she wrote in Swedish, translated to English, in Sept. 2020.

In August 2020, she once again referred to her phobia as "the world's craziest phobia".

Originally published by Latin Times.

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