Sarah Paulson says she and Holland Taylor don't plan to marry
On the Dear Chelsea podcast, Paulson said she feels married to Taylor but has never felt the need to make it official.
Sarah Paulson said she and longtime partner Holland Taylor do not intend to marry. On Thursday’s Dear Chelsea podcast, she told Chelsea Handler that marriage’s permanence “gives me the heebie-jeebies.”
Paulson, 51, and Taylor, 83, have spent nearly 12 years together and will reach that anniversary in January. Paulson is glad she has never married.
“Because I feel that I've maintained some sense of myself in a way,” Paulson said.
That feeling coexists with a close bond. “The bond, the connectivity I have with Holland, it feels, we talk about it all the time, I feel married to her,” Paulson said. Later, she added, “I feel as connected to another person as I possibly could to Holland.”
“But I don't have, or have never had, the need to, like, have it be something written in stone somehow,” she said.
“The stoneness of it makes me want to, like, it gives me the heebie-jeebies,” Paulson said, adding, “I want to feel this kind of freedom.” She puts freedom ahead of a contractual commitment, as People noted.
“That's not about being away from her or being with another person,” Paulson said, calling it “just about maintaining some sense of my own independence.” She said Taylor feels similarly about independence, adding, “and I think Holland feels that way too.”
“We just have never, ever, ever felt the need to... I don't know,” Paulson said.
The word “wife” troubles both partners, according to Paulson. “I don't like to be called 'wife,' either,” she said, adding, “She doesn't want to be called 'wife' either.”
“We're not married, first of all, but somehow, it's, like, the thought of that is just not... I don't like it... belonging to someone,” Paulson said.
Paulson and Taylor met in 2005, then started dating in 2015. In a May 2024 appearance on SmartLess, Paulson credited their separate living arrangements with helping the relationship work. She also said then that they see each other often while maintaining separate houses.
Paulson, an Emmy winner, stars in All's Fair and is known for American Horror Story. Taylor is known for Two and a Half Men.
On the same Dear Chelsea episode, Paulson responded to online rumors about cosmetic procedures, Entertainment Weekly reported. The topic came up after Paulson mentioned a preference for which side of her face is filmed.
“People all over the internet think that I've done my lips, my forehead, everything,” Paulson said, adding, “I've done nothing to my face.”
“I have no goo in there,” she said.
Handler agreed. “No, I can see that you've done nothing. I don't mean that in a negative way,” she said.
Paulson said she still looks “at facelifts on the internet every day.”
