Cant even access my email account

I went to log in, and was prompted to give them my phone number. Why does google need to have my phone number in order for me to access my email account? I spent about 15 minutes looking through the account settings and could not find any way to deactivate this. My password is strong enough, I shouldnt need to give you my phone number to access an email account. Thanks for nothing

Brad bellflower about Gmail - Email by Google, v5.0.180211