Holland Taylor says her relationship with Sarah Paulson works because distance is built into it. On The Drew Barrymore Show on October 20, Taylor said their jobs keep pulling them apart, even after 12 years together.
“We do as much time as we possibly can, because work takes us apart constantly,” Taylor said. She also spelled out the arrangement: “I have an apartment here [in New York] and she stays here at my apartment when she's here, and we stay together here when we're both here.”
New York and West Coast
At 83, Taylor described a setup that is part logistics and part routine. She said she also has a house on the West Coast, which gives the relationship two fixed bases rather than one shared home, and that matters because the couple’s time together depends on where work sends them.
The arrangement sits in contrast to the usual milestone couples are expected to reach. Taylor and Paulson have been together since 2015, but they first met in 2005, and their decision not to live together has held across the years instead of becoming a deadline they have tried to force.
Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor
Paulson has already described the dynamic in practical terms on the Smartless podcast on May 14, 2024, saying, “We've been together for a long time now” and “And part of it has to do with, we're together when we want to be, and we're not when we don't.” That framing matches Taylor’s latest comments: the relationship works on timing, not cohabitation.
Paulson also said, “Holland, before me, had not been in a ton of long-term relationships” and “Whereas Holland is my sort of third, you know, more than five-year relationship, so I tend to do that and have more experience doing that.” On Taylor’s account, the result is a relationship built around separate homes, frequent travel, and the work schedules that keep them from sharing one address full time.
For readers following Holland Taylor and Sarah Paulson, the important takeaway is simple: the lack of a shared home is not a sign of distance in the relationship, but the arrangement that lets it keep working across New York, the West Coast, and whatever job comes next.
