Sarah Paulson loves her girlfriend, actress Holland Taylor, and proclaimed it to the world last year when she accepted her Emmy. "Holland Taylor, I love you," she said at the end of her speech. And as it turns out, Paulson was wondering if she should even do it at all.
"It occurred to me, should I not do that?" she told The Edit. "And then I thought, why would I not? The fact I’m having this thought is wrong... But then, you know, I did it anyway."
Of course, any actor in a heterosexual relationship would never have to worry about shouting out their partner in such a public way, but for LBGTQ actors, there's worry that even talking about your relationship could be detrimental to your career. This is something else Paulson experienced when she began dating Taylor.
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"Early on, when people found out I was with Holland, some said: ‘I think you have to be careful, I’m afraid it’s going to affect your career negatively," she said. But Paulson says the idea that her partner would affect her job and image never occurred to her. "I was like, what?"
She does admit that it is "unconventional" to be dating someone much older, though. Paulson is 42, and Taylor is 74. "My life choices are, um, unconventional. I’m with a much older person and people find that totally fascinating and odd," she says. Paulson, though, shrugs that off, and says that her relationship is the least interesting thing about her. "But I do feel a bit unconventional. I am a woman of a certain age who chose not to have children, and who has made my career my priority."
Still, Paulson doesn't need anyone's approval to live her life. "I am the captain of my own ship, and I’ve never looked to anyone else to validate that, or tell me it’s okay."