'I am absolutely in love': Sarah Paulson, 41, gushes about girlfriend Holland Taylor, 73... and explains her preference for partners much older than herself

By Rachel Mcgrath For Dailymail.com

Published: 16:09 EST, 2 March 2016 | Updated: 16:33 EST, 2 March 2016

Sarah Paulson made headlines in December when it was revealed after months of speculation that she was in a relationship with much older actress Holland Taylor.

And now the American Horror Story star, 41, has spoken for the first time about her feelings for Taylor, 73, and why she prefers to be with older people in an interview with the New York Times.

'What I can say absolutely is that I am in love,' she says. 

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In love: Sarah Paulson, 41, and Holland Taylor, 73, have been dating for about a year. They're pictured together at a party in New York last October

In love: Sarah Paulson, 41, and Holland Taylor, 73, have been dating for about a year. They're pictured together at a party in New York last October

The couple first met 10 years ago and Paulson described how she thought then that the veteran of The Practice and Two And a Half Men was 'probably the most exquisitely beautiful woman I’d ever seen.'

The actresses kept in touch but only began dating about a year ago.

Previously Paulson was in a relationship for seven years with Cherry Jones, who is 18 years older than she is, and she has also previously dated men, and was once engaged to actor and playwright Tracy Letts, nine years her senior. 

Honest: Paulson has said she is 'absolutely in love' with Holland but doesn't want to be 'straitjacketed' when it comes to her sexuality

Honest: Paulson has said she is 'absolutely in love' with Holland but doesn't want to be 'straitjacketed' when it comes to her sexuality

'There’s a poignancy to being with someone older,' she told the NY Times. 'I think there’s a greater appreciation of time and what you have together and what’s important.'

'It puts a kind of sharp light mixed with a sort of diffused light on something. I can’t say it any other way than there’s a poignancy to it, and a heightened sense of time and the value of time.'

Paulson, who is winning accolades for her portrayal of prosecutor Marcia Clark in the FX series The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, explained that since childhood, she has always preferred the company of older people. 

Smitten: Paulson explained there's poignancy to being with someone much older than herself and described Talyor as 'probably the most exquisitely beautiful woman' she had ever seen. They're pictured in December

Smitten: Paulson explained there's poignancy to being with someone much older than herself and described Talyor as 'probably the most exquisitely beautiful woman' she had ever seen. They're pictured in December

Previous love: Before getting together with Taylor, Paulson was in a seven-year relationship with actress Cherry Jones, who is 18 years her senior. They're pictured together in April 2009 in New York

Previous love: Before getting together with Taylor, Paulson was in a seven-year relationship with actress Cherry Jones, who is 18 years her senior. They're pictured together in April 2009 in New York

'I had a complicated home life, and my teachers, predominantly my theater teachers and my English teachers, were very dedicated to taking care of me in a particular way,' she said. 'And in doing so, I think I developed a very easy rapport with people older than myself.'

As for her sexuality, she accepts that her romantic choices seem fascinating to outsiders.

But she doesn't want to be labeled, she says.

'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,' she explained. 

Fluid: The actress was also once engaged to actor and playwright Tracy Letts. Letts, second from left, is seen with Paulson, right, and director Josh Mond and actor Emile Hirsh at the Toronto Film Festival in 2011

Fluid: The actress was also once engaged to actor and playwright Tracy Letts. Letts, second from left, is seen with Paulson, right, and director Josh Mond and actor Emile Hirsh at the Toronto Film Festival in 2011

Mentored: Paulson, seen at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles in January, attributed her affinity with older people o the care shown to her by teachers when she was growing up

Mentored: Paulson, seen at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles in January, attributed her affinity with older people o the care shown to her by teachers when she was growing up

 

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