Sarah Paulson Calls Out an Actress By Name Who Once Sent Six Pages of Unsolicited Notes to Her About One of Her Performances
“Am I going to get sued? I don’t care, because I think this is outrageous.”
It has been over 10 years since the incident, but Sarah Paulson still hasn’t forgotten a slight by a fellow actress back in 2013—and isn’t afraid to call out said actress by name for giving her six pages of unsolicited notes on one of Paulson’s performances.
“I hope to see you never,” Paulson told hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes on the trio’s podcast, “Smartless,” per Entertainment Weekly.
The anecdote emerged after the group was “talking about the theater custom of celebrities coming backstage after a show to meet with the cast when Paulson let loose,” Entertainment Weekly reports. Let’s let the Emmy winner tell the story herself, shall we?
“I did do a play once,” she said. “The last time I was onstage, I did a play called Talley’s Folly at the Roundabout, and the actress—and I’m going to say this, and I’m not going to ask you to cut this out, because I don’t fucking care—this actress came to the play. Her name is Trish Hawkins—hi, Trish! Hi, Trisha! Trish Hawkins came to the play—am I going to get sued? I don’t care, because I think this is outrageous.”
A post shared by “SmartLess” (@smartless)
A photo posted by on
Paulson continued “But she came to the play, proceeded to say—she looked at me up and down and then she went, ‘Your dress is yellow. Mine was pink.’ And I thought, ‘What?’”
According to Entertainment Weekly, it turned out “Hawkins originated the role of Sally Talley in Talley’s Folly, both during its 1979 off-Broadway performances and its Broadway debut in 1980,” the outlet writes. “Paulson, meanwhile, played the same character in the rom-com, written by Lanford Wilson, in an off-Broadway revival in 2013.”
Paulson said her own mother had brought Hawkins to the play because the two were “in some sort of writing group together,” Paulson said. “Cut to two days later, I got an email that was six pages long of notes and a communication to me about what she had done when she had done the play, what she recommended I do. It was outrageous. It was really outrageous. Trish Hawkins, I have not forgotten it.”
Stay In The Know
Select the newsletters you’d like to receive. Then, add your email to sign up.
The exchange clearly struck a deep nerve with Paulson, “who told the group that she does, indeed, still have the notes, but she never said anything to her mother about the incident,” Entertainment Weekly reports. (Pretty sure she, uh—pretty sure she’s aware now.)
“I just put it back in the file of things my mom has done,” Paulson said.
Co-host Arnett, for one, praised Paulson’s brutal honesty: “I don’t know you as well as these guys, and I have a real feeling that we’re going to be better friends than they could ever imagine,” he said. “I love you for saying that so fucking much.”
Moral of the story? Sarah Paulson does not need your advice, mmmkay? Don’t come for her unless she sends for you (as one Kenya Moore of The Real Housewives of Atlanta might say).
Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.
-
An International Day of the Girl Celebration Done Right
Inside ‘Marie Claire’ and Clé de Peau’s exclusive conversation about the impact of women in STEM.
By Samantha Holender Published
-
Katie Holmes Brings an Unexpected Summer Trend Into Fall
Her take is refreshingly affordable.
By Kelsey Stiegman Published
-
Sarah Jessica Parker Matches Her Teal Sweater to Her Tights
This is extremely Carrie-coded.
By Hanna Lustig Published