Sarah Paulson, who is pretty much a shoo-in for an Emmy for her portrayal of Marcia Clark on FX’s The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, recently sat down with avant garde magazine NOTOFU. Paulson discussed her May-December romance with actress Holland Taylor, her critically acclaimed role on American Crime Story and her experiences being a woman in Hollywood. The article is accompanied by stunning photos of the actress clad in fashions from Valentino, Givenchy, and Jill Sander. Here are some highlights:
Her take on relationships: I believe that everyone should be allowed to speak their truth and just say what they want to say and show the world who they are. You should be able to love whomever you f—ing well please.
On the “outing” of her relationship: [Holland] won a Tony Award, I kissed her, and all of a sudden I was outed. I didn’t really think about it in that way at the time — I was just doing what one would do when a person they love has just won a big fat acting prize. What am I gonna do, pat her on the back and say ‘good job, dude?’ It didn’t occur to me to do anything but what I did.
On taking on the role of Marcia Clark: I remember thinking when I first read the script: I don’t know how I’m going to do this. I don’t know how she did this. I was trying to imagine what it would be like for someone to go through this — her divorce and her home life completely falling apart under such intense scrutiny — and I just thought: if she could do it, I’ve just got to honor her as best I can and hope that some respect gets thrown at her. I’ve just got to do it.
On finding common ground with the prosecutor: I couldn’t help but feel a kind of kinship in terms of being looked at. But there was so much celebration about my relationship. So much so that I thought: Jesus, did everyone just assume I was going to be alone forever with 500 cats?
On sexism in Hollywood: The only thing I’ve experienced that is not only sexist, but offensive to me on a human level is that any time I’ve ever been asked to portray the leading lady, I’ve auditioned as a brunette and have always been asked to make my hair blonde. Somehow my brown hair didn’t have the same allure, the same sex appeal, the same power, that a blonde would have. It wasn’t even a subterranean message: it was overt. What a way to communicate to somebody that how they come into the world is not enough.
[From NOTOFU via Daily Mail and E! Online]
I have always liked Sarah’s candor and love the fact that she’s not afraid to take on unconventional roles (see: American Horror Story, you pick a season). And, as someone who has dated younger men – not quite the age difference between 41-year-old Sarah and 73-year-old Holland – I don’t see anything wrong with their relationship. Besides, Holland is a national treasure. She has won an Emmy and a Tony, she wrote and starred in a play about former Texas governor Ann Richards – and she was one of my all-time favorite TV bosses, Ruth Dunbar on Bosom Buddies, where she showed off her knack for physical comedy. If they’re happy, good for them.
Speak the truth Sarah…don’t let anyone define you.
it’s funny cause all you peeps would call them out if it was an old man and a young woman!
Personally I’m not a fan of relationships with huge age gaps, therefore I don’t like Holland and Sarah, as much as I don’t like Hugh Hefner and his latest bunny.
Huge age differences in couples, most of the times, mean the younger one is looking for a parent and the older one is looking for their lost youth -that’s not me saying, it’s the science of psychology. I like Sarah too, she’s a very beautiful & talented actress, but girlfriend has mommy issues and I won’t pretend she doesn’t cause they’re a same sex couple and it’s (currently) politically incorrect to criticise them!
What you say may be very accurate. I don’t know Ms. Paulson. But it seems to me that there is someone for everyone and most of us don’t have the luxury or time to completely work out our unresolved emotional issues before we get involved with other people. If she has “mommy” issues and Ms. Taylor makes her happy, I don’t see the problem.
Yeah, I’m thinking back to a lot of articles on this site about a huge age difference between an older man and younger woman and (rightfully) raising an eyebrow at it.
The difference is, when it comes to older men dating a young woman, the young woman is usually 22 and knows nothing. While the age difference between Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor is 33 years old, Sarah is 40. She’s a woman, not a young girl. She knows what she’s doing.
“Huge age differences in couples, most of the times, mean the younger one is looking for a parent and the older one is looking for their lost youth -that’s not me saying, it’s the science of psychology.”
No, it really isn’t.
I don’t think Hefner and a bimbo is analogous to this relationship. Yes it’s a big age gap but they are mature enough to make up their own minds. Good luck to them.
Truly outstanding actress – 12 Years a Slave, The Runner, OJ series. Very unconventional relationships and good on her for being open. But is it true that gay women have it easier than gay men in HW, and is it because the latter are defined has “missing” some masculinity? Just a thought.
I don’t think that’s true.
Also, she’s bisexual.
I think that it’s the stereotype of gay men that we’ve been presented with in film for so long. They were always sassy, flamboyant, snapped their fingers a lot, and rolled their necks. It’s like screen writers weren’t sure there was any other way for a man to be gay.
It wasn’t until recently that we started seeing gay men in film that had alpha traits, but even now they are written as sex fiends.
don’t forget that a lot of men get off on the idea of watching two women so that fantasy may be one of the reasons gay/bi women have “an easier time” in Hollywood
I absolutely love Sarah Paulson….a fantastic person and an excellent actress (actually the only reason I watched American Crime Story was her….I hated the rest of it).
Honestly Paulson is 41 so that age gap doesn’t mean much, she knows full well what she is getting into.
She’s a wonderful actress and feisty, I like her.
She really does seem to have her head on straight about the relationship, I was really impressed with a lot of what she said in a recent radio interview. I’ve never been a fan of hers but she’s really growing on me as of late.
Me, too. I loved this interview, and had not noticed before how very pretty she is. I also agree with Loo that a 41 year old woman can decide for herself whether or not someone else is too old for them or not.
When she talks about the Tony kiss, she’s not referring to Holland Taylor, she’s talking about her ex-girlfriend Cherry Jones.
When they broke up, I was kinda sad. They were a wonderful looking couple.
Her interaction with her girlfriend over social media is unbearably cute.
She was so good on that show, I look forward to watching her win the Emmy.
I remember Holland from Bosom Buddies! She’s barely changed all these years later. I heard Sarah talk about her a bit in a longer interview, and they seem very happy together.
“What a way to communicate to somebody that how they come into the world is not enough.”
Sadly that’s how it works. If you’re rejected or things don’t work out often it’s because you didn’t offer enough. So I’ve heard.
I disagreed with her just a tiny bit on the blonde thing. I think Hollywood is just so incredibly lazy and unimaginative about women that they work with formulas – blonde equals angelic or sexy, brunette equals smart girl next door, or whatever. They don’t believe that the audience is smart enough to get the message unless it’s spelled out in a very conventional way. So I don’t disagree that the message they are sending is a negative one, but I wouldn’t let it bother me, I hope, because no actual thought goes into it.
I honestly thought she was a natural blonde for a long time, because she was blonde in everything I had seen her in. I think people in the industry assumed she was blonde, and when they hired her they wanted her to look like the actress they had in their heads. Or perhaps they met her as a brunette but still had those past performances in their minds. I don’t think it was a giant statement about blondes this, brunettes that. Just that if you work with a certain look all the time, people say “we want that again”.
Incredible actress!
Nobody can tell you that you’re not enough but yourself. When the messaging comes your way it either bounces or gets taken in based on your self esteem. Getting to a place of enough within yourself is usually a long hard road.
Very well said. That’s what I meant above, but you expressed it perfectly.
I like her, but come on. I’ve never heard or read one bad thing about Paulsen and feel like she kinda needs to get over herself. She wasn’t outed, that’s a very 90s way to see it, and we are way past that. Her relationship is “news” like any other celeb’s.
She’s impressed me so much in the people vs OJ. Truly the most underrated actress in Hollywood.
And speaking as a brit who wasn’t aware of the calibre of work she is capable of she’s my new favourite amercian actress. Hope she gets showered with great parts from now on.
I was totally disinterested in Thr People vs OJ, but I was goaded into watching it and ended up being pleasantly surprised by the whole thing and in particular by Ms. Paulson, so much that I’ve sought out some of her other work. I can’t really get into the whole American Horror Story thing (that level of bizarre violence is just not to my taste), but goodness, she is supremely talented and I really hope the continues to get good and knteresting work.