I’m A Celeb viewers are amazed Josie Gibson still sucks her thumb aged 38… but one in 10 adults do

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Josie Gibson’s appearance on I’m a Celebrity has revealed that she sucks her thumb aged 38 – but she is not the only star with the habit.

Madonna is proud to suck her thumb into her 60s, Rihanna only stopped at around 25 and incredibly one in ten British adults apparently does it in secret when tired or upset.

Ariana Grande, Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Lawrence, Geri Horner, Uma Thurman, Courtney Love and the late Amy Winehouse have also been photographed with a digit in their mouths.

Mother-of-one Ms Gibson was filmed drifting off to sleep in her jungle bed last night with the help of thumb-sucking, which has been described as a silent phenomenon. 

Many I’m a Celeb viewers have criticised her as ‘infantile’, suggesting that at the age of 38 and having a child of her own, she should have grown out of it. 

However, MailOnline can reveal that Josie is part of a much larger – and often secretive group of thumb suckers, including a host of the world’s most famous names – and most of them appear to be women.

Madonna has been photographed at the age of 62 in the back of a bus in Malawi in 2021, but pictures of her doing it go back through the decades back to the 1980s.  When she has been criticised, she once famously said: ‘It’s MY life all of you women-hating bigots’. She also said it was a sign of her ‘acting my age’.

In 2009 Amy Winehouse was spotted leaving her north London home with her bodyguard while sucking her thumb. A year later she did the same while cuddled up to her father Mitch Winehouse outside a party and also after a court case.

Victoria Beckham was photographed at an England match sucking her thumb when David was playing at Euro 2004 and also sucked her thumb for a Marc Jacobs campaign in 2008. Occasionally she has been seen with her thumb nail between her teeth.

Chloe Sims revealed that she had an overbite through sucking her thumb until the age of 16.

One in two children suck a thumb or finger at the age of one – and many will give it up by the age of four. One is eight will still do it in their teens.

But multiple surveys have suggested that up to one in ten adults do it – but most keep it secret from all but their loved-ones. The practice is so widespread that some dental practices say they refuse to treat them because of the damage it can do to teeth. 

Dentists have said previously that adults who suck their thumbs regularly could need braces for up to 18 months because of the damage it can do to teeth.

Specialist orthodontist Dr Preet Bhogal said previously: ‘Thumb sucking is a wholly negative activity for your teeth and jaws.

‘The thumb rests on the lower teeth, tilting them backwards, while proclining the top teeth forwards from behind.

‘The sucking exerts a negative pressure inside your mouth, narrowing the upper set of teeth and giving you an asymmetrical bite.’

Many I’m a Celeb fans said they were disturbed when Josie Gibson was spotted her sucking on her thumb during Wednesday’s episode of I’m A Celebrity.

The This Morning presenter, 38, was caught out while she was sleeping in camp and fans were quick to notice her habit.

Viewers rushed to X, formerly known as Twitter, to discuss her ‘disgusting’ and ‘outrageous’ habit that she has at her age.  Some wrote: ‘Josie sucking her thumb wtf’.