Sarah Paulson shares surprising secret to relationship success with Holland Taylor

Sarah Paulson has shared how she and long-term partner Holland Taylor have maintained such a strong relationship.

American Crime Story star Paulson, 49, went public with Taylor in 2015 after revealing that the 81-year-old Two and a Half Men and Legally Blonde star had slid into her DMs.

Since then, they have become one of the best-known same-sex couples in Hollywood, frequently publicly gushing over each other and sharing birthday messages on social media.

Now, Ratched actress Paulson has explained exactly why their relationship works so well – and it might be a little surprising to some.

“We don’t live together, that’s the sort of secret,” she told Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett on the SmartLess podcast on Monday (13 May).

“Holland and I, we spend plenty of time together but we don’t live in the same house,” she said. “We’ve been together for a long time now and I think part of it has to do with, we’re together when we wanna be and we’re not when we don’t.”

While the age-old “U-Haul lesbian” trope suggests that many queer women move in together very early on in their relationship, some prefer to spend a lot of time apart.

Actress Miriam Margolyes and her partner of 54 years spent most of their lives living separately, although the Harry Potter star recently announced they would be moving in together.

Asked why she and Taylor don’t just sleep separately in the same house if they want time apart, Paulson responded: “Because we like to fall asleep holding hands… I like to sleep near her.”

She then followed up jokingly: “I don’t want to be around her the rest of the time.”

Last month, when it was announced that Paulson had received her first Tony nomination, for her leading role in Broadway show Appropriate, Taylor wrote on Instagram: “Permanent post. So worthy – of all good things. And of all my love,” to which Paulson replied: “I love you completely.”