Sarah Paulson slams critics of her relationship with Holland Taylor

Actor Sarah Paulson is October’s Harper's Bazaar “cover human” as she dubs it, with an in-depth interview (to accompany the gorgeous magazine-fronting photo) conducted by Bad Feminist author Roxanne Gay. In the piece, the two women talk about Paulson’s long-term relationship with fellow actor and playwright Holland Taylor, who is, as many like to point out, 32 years older than Paulson. For the couple, the age difference isn’t an issue but when it comes to dealing with a life in the public eye, it can become one.Gay asked Pauslon why she thinks that people are so preoccupied by the fact that a 45-year-old woman is in a relationship with a 77-year-old (even though, in terms of younger women dating older men, it’s a tradition that’s stretched back to the beginning of recorded time). Paulson chalks it up to society’s “own ageist thinking and the idea that to be old is to cease to have any desire.” But that’s her putting it politely. When it comes to unwanted questions or rude comments, the actor draws a hard line. “Anybody says anything about any person I love in a way that is disrespectful or cruel and I want to cut a bitch,” she told Gay.

 

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This is a wild one for me — one of my favorite magazines, @HarpersBazaarUS, has me as their October cover girl... cover woman... cover HUMAN. I’m their October cover human!! I used to line the walls of my bedroom with images from fashion magazines, many of them from Harper’s. As if this weren’t enough to blow my mind, I learned that the great @RoxaneGay74 would be writing the piece. I have never been interviewed by a writer I admired so ardently. To say I was grateful for the opportunity to talk so openly, with such a singular talent would be an understatement. Thank you for having me Harper’s Bazaar! Link in bio. Magazine: @harpersbazaarus Writer: @roxanegay74 Photographer: @samtaylorjohnson Fashion Editor: @paulcavaco Hair: @hairbyadir Makeup: @adambreuchaud Manicure: @nailsbyemikudo

A post shared by Sarah Paulson (@mssarahcatharinepaulson) on Sep 22, 2020 at 5:06am PDT

A year into the couple’s relationship, Paulson, who has been partnered with Taylor since 2015, told the New York Times that "If my life choices had to be predicated based on what was expected of me from a community on either side, that’s going to make me feel really straitjacketed, and I don’t want to feel that. What I can say absolutely is that I am in love,” she added, “and that person happens to be Holland Taylor.”[video_embed id='1774095']RELATED: Sarah Paulson was 'screaming into pillows' to prepare for 'The Goldfinch' [/video_embed]Five years later in 2020, Paulson stands firm in her refusal to be categorized or labelled by the people on the outside of her relationship. “To feel that I belong to anyone other than a person I would like to belong to, like Holland or my dog or my best friend or my sister… a bunch of strangers claiming me as their own feels a little confusing,” she told Gay.Sarah most recently stars in Ryan Murphy’s Ratched, a twisted-up take on One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest which centers on the origin story of antagonist Nurse Ratchet. Of the role, Paulson says: "We were going for something, and I’m proud of it. It’s an exploration, and it has something to say, and it looks beautiful. It’s dangerous. It’s scary. It’s sexy.”[video_embed id='2028858']BEFORE YOU GO: Grandfather meets granddaughter for the first time[/video_embed]