What to Know
Howie Mandel has been open about living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and he has even spoken about the harm of making light of such a debilitating condition. In spite of all that he has to raise awareness and decrease stigma, people are not super happy about a video he recently shared.
The comedian and TV personality recently had adult content creator Sophie Rain on his podcast, Howie Mandel Does Stuff. When he met her, he did an elaborate ritual to avoid direct contact with her. The podcast and a clip shared via TikTok show Howie putting on gloves and getting behind plexiglass before shaking Sophie’s hand.
He has said before that he would not shake people’s hands because of OCD.
@officialhowiemandel A pleasure to meet @Sophie Rain. #handshake #fyp #viral ♬ original sound – Howie Mandel
Contamination OCD created numerous challenges in his life. In a post to promote his partnership with NOCD, a company that provides online Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy to those with OCD, Howie previously opened up about how people once thought his “no handshakes” thing was some sort of joke or bit.
“But when the ‘joke’ follows you home and controls your entire life, it’s anything but funny,” he explained in the post. “For years, I lived with such intense fears of germs and contamination that everything felt unsafe. I had no idea what was happening to me. Turns out, it was OCD—and it was treatable.”
However, when Howie shared the video that showed him going through great lengths to avoid touching Sophie’s hand directly, some people assumed that it had to be a bit and not an actual compulsion that he still performs.
The interaction bothered a lot of people, albeit for different reasons.
Some people in the comments on TikTok simply found it “disrespectful.” And numerous people assumed that Howie was acting this way with Sophie specifically, because she’s an OnlyFans creator. So, a fair number of people were disgusted by how judgmental and offensive that seemed, while others offered more misogynistic interpretations and claimed Howie was “smart” for doing this when interacting with Sophie.
The clip started circulating on Reddit as well, where people assumed that the ritual was, indeed, a joke Howie made because of Sophie’s adult content career. “I think that’s the joke?” one Redditor wrote. “Like she’s so filthy he needs gloves and plexiglass. Or am I missing something?”
At the same time, several people argued that the interaction was not about Sophie specifically, and was just about Howie’s contamination OCD. Unfortunately, commenters felt the video did more harm than good, and they didn’t find it funny.
Is it raising awareness of how debilitating OCD can be, or is it contributing to the stigma that already exists?
Because Howie has spoken about receiving treatment for OCD and made the decision to share this footage on both YouTube and TikTok, some critics assumed that his contamination OCD is not actually as extreme as what’s shown in the video. And for someone who has spoken about how struggling with OCD is no laughing matter, sharing this definitely seems like an interesting choice.
“This feels weird,” one Redditor wrote. “I know he’s a germaphobe but he’s met PLENTY of people without doing all this. I’m sure this is all a joke but… interesting.”
Someone else said, “As someone with contamination OCD, this is ridiculous and turns all of us into a joke.” And a few people argued that the video is actually spreading misinformation in addition to potentially exacerbating stigma. “Just commenting to point out that this is the opposite of what you should be doing if you have contamination OCD,” another commenter added. “…Acting like this makes OCD worse, not better.”
While some people said it was just a joke and not a huge deal, others felt like Howie was making “a mockery of a real condition.” That does not erase the fact that he’s been candid about his experience with the condition—but people definitely didn’t love this particular reference to it.
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