Celebrity Celebrity Belief & Identity Celebrity LGBTQ+ Issues Sarah Paulson Refuses to Label Her Sexual Orientation: 'I've Always Walked to the Beat of My Own Drum' Paulson dated men before entering a seven-year relationship with actress Cherry Jones and now dates Holland Taylor By Patrick Gomez Patrick Gomez Patrick Gomez is the Editor in Chief/General Manager of Entertainment Weekly. Formerly at People magazine and The A.V. Club, the Critics Choice and Television Critics Association member has appeared on 'Today,' 'Extra!,' 'Access Hollywood,' 'E! News,' 'CNN,' and 'Nightline,' and can be seen frequently on 'Good Morning America.' Follow the Texas Native at @PatrickGomezLA wherever your media is social for all things 'For All Mankind' 'Top Chef,' and puppy related. People Editorial Guidelines Published on March 16, 2016 10:15AM EDT Photo: J.R. Mankoff/August Sarah Paulson won’t be painted into a corner. “I’ve always walked to the beat of my own drum,” the actress says in the current of issue of PEOPLE. Growing up in Brooklyn, the actress – who is currently receiving rave reviews for her portrayal of prosecutor Marcia Clark on People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story – even went against the grain on her first big audition. “The fine print said to audition with something age-appropriate, but I did a monologue as the mom from Bye Bye Birdie,” Paulson, 41, says of auditioning for New York City’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, which inspired the movie Fame. “They probably let me in just because they thought it was a brave choice. But really, it was just naïveté.” And as she grew up and entered the dating world, that independent nature continued to blossom. • For more from Sarah Paulson – including what she learned from Marcia Clark about dealing with fame – pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday The American Horror Story actress has notoriously declined to label her sexual orientation. She is currently dating former Two and a Half Men star Holland Taylor, 73, but dated men before entering a seven-year relationship with Cherry Jones, 59, that ended in 2009. “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,” Paulson told The New York Times earlier this month. “What I can say absolutely is that I am in love, and that person happens to be Holland Taylor.” The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story airs Tuesdays (at 10 p.m. ET) on FX.