How Many Holes Is Too Many Holes For Sarah Paulson, And Other Rational Phobias

By Tori Preston | Celebrity | January 14, 2019 |

By Tori Preston | Celebrity | January 14, 2019 |

Despite starring in American Horror Story, Glass, and even playing a ghost named Merlyn in American Gothic back in the day, Sarah Paulson has plenty to be afraid of. For instance, she can’t stand sponges — and not because they’re moist little bacteria-cakes. No, it has to do with how porous they are, and how porous ANYTHING is. Because Sarah Paulson has trypophobia: A fear or aversion to irregular, densely-packed patterns of bumps or holes.

Trypophobia may not be officially recognized as a mental disorder just yet, but the evidence that it’s a fairly common condition has been mounting for several years. And in fact it may be more accurate to describe it as “disgust” rather than “fear” — a reaction rooted in self-preservation. After all, clusters of holes or bumps should be avoided if they’re caused by infections diseases (ew, pustules!) or parasites (ew, larvae in skin!). What I’m saying is, Sarah’s sponge-aversion isn’t all that weird, though if we’re going to talk phobias then there are a few others completely rational ones I’d like to recommend:

Ontophobia: Fear of being or continued existence

Panophobia: Fear of everything

Kakorrhaphiophobia: Fear of failure (like failing to spell that word correctly on the first try)

Phronemophobia: Fear of thinking (it’s hard, OK!)

Americophobia: Fear of Americans!

Blennophobia: Fear of… slime

Globophobia: Fear of balloons

Don’t believe me about the balloons? Then I guess you just haven’t seen a properly scary balloon before. Luckily on that same episode of The Graham Norton Show there just happened to be a perfect example of a balloon you should fear — and it was shaped like James McAvoy!

I wonder if Sarah Paulson gained a new phobia after sharing a couch with THAT monstrosity?