Ally Mayfair-Richards suffered from severe anxiety in American Horror Story season 7, but the character also carried around a handful of serious phobias. The main figure in Cult was played by Sarah Paulson, a seasoned veteran of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's horror anthology series. In total, Paulson has played 11 characters in the series, and the actress is set to return in a primary role for the tenth season coming in 2021.
Cult debuted in the fall of 2017 and centered on the fallout from the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. The season focused on the Mayfair-Richards family in a fictional suburb in Michigan. Ally has helped build a life with her wife, Ivy (Alison Pill), and their young son, Oz (Cooper Dodson), but her fears and phobias started to intensify at the end of 2016. To make matters worse, Ally was stalked by a savage group of clowns led by Kai Anderson (Evan Peters), a dangerous young man who was an expert at manipulating the fears of others.
Public fear was a major theme of Cult, which interweaved with the viewpoints of the opposing sides in politics. While death and gore were prevalent like fellow American Horror Story installments, season 7 took a deeper dive into the psychological side of terror. Ally wasn't the only character to seek treatment for a crippling phobia. For example, her psychiatrist, Dr. Rudy Vincent (Cheyenne Jackson), was in contact with a patient named Rosie (Laura Allen) that had an intense fear of being locked in enclosed spaces. Kai's cult later learned of this fear and locked Rosie and her husband in coffins. Interestingly enough, Ally's fears in Cult were inspired by Paulson's real-life fears. Here's a breakdown of Ally's most prominent phobias showcased in the season.
Coulrophobia
Coulrophobia is simply the name for having a fear of clowns. This is one of the most popular phobias among the public since pop culture has subverted the innocence of clowns into horror figures. Ally suffered from coulrophobia, which was made worse when she was periodically attacked by a group of clowns in Cult. Considering the prominence of clowns in the installment, the series brought back season 4's sadistic figure, Twisty the Clown.
Trypophobia
In addition to a fear of clowns, Ally also suffered from trypophobia, the fear of irregular patterns, or clusters of small holes and bumps. Ally revealed this aversion to certain objects after seeing a piece of coral in Dr. Vincent's office. She also showed extreme discomfort when her neighbors brought out a piece of honeycomb for her to view.
Hemophobia
Like a good portion of the public, Ally had an extreme fear of blood, also known as hemophobia. The phobia is often caused by a traumatic experience or an incident from childhood. For Ally, the phobia was triggered when she hallucinated by seeing bleeding holes in her food. Based on the clown cult's murderous tendencies, Ally was forced to encounter a lot of blood throughout American Horror Story season 7.