Sarah Paulson Reveals She Had Career Nerves After Kissing Her Girlfriend At The Tonys

We may have come a long way in terms of LGBT acceptance in the West, but there’s no doubt there are still major issues, not least of which are sometimes legitimate fears over whether being open about your sexuality will affect your career. And when you’re an actor just starting to find media success, it’s not too surprising you’d worry whether it would make a difference.

American Horror Story’s Sarah Paulson has admitted she was a little nervous after kissing her then girlfriend, Cherry Jones, at the 2005 Tony Awards, after Jones won the Best Actress in a Play award for playing Sister Aloysius in Doubt. At the time, Paulson had just booked her first high profile TV role, in Studio 60 On Sunset Strip, and wondered whether the spontaneous smooch would have repercussions for that.

She tells NOTOFU (via GSN), “I was just doing what one would do when a person they love has just won a big award. What am I gonna do, pat her on the back and say, ‘Good job, dude?’ It didn’t occur to me to do anything but what I did.”

However, she says it did give her concerns, which weren’t allayed until she got to the Studio 60 sets and the show’s creator, Aaron Sorking, assured her that she would, ‘never have anything to worry about.’

Paulson says, “It was the biggest exhale of my life. I didn’t realize how anxious about it I had been until he said that.”

She’s also keen to say people shouldn’t have to feel the way she did, adding, “I believe that everyone should be allowed to speak their truth and just say what they want to say and show the world who they are. You should be able to love whomever you fucking well please.

Bisexual Paulson, split with Jones not too long after the Tonys and is currently a relationship with Emmy Award-winning actress Holland Taylor (Two and a Half Men). While Studio 60 flopped (despite being a great show), Paulson has since found great success in American Horror Story and film roles in the likes of 12 Years A Slave and Carol. She recently earned rave reviews as Marcia Clarke in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.