Sarah Paulson says the idea of marrying Holland Taylor gives her the "heebie-jeebies".

The 51-year-old actress has been with the 83-year-old star for almost 12 years, and while they're very much in love, the American Horror Story fan favourite isn't looking to tie the knot.

She told the Dear Chelsea podcast: "I'm happy that I haven't been married. Because I feel that I've maintained some sense of myself in a way.

"For marriage to me somehow, it's like... the bond, the connectivity I have with Holland, it feels, we talk about it all the time, I feel married to her.

"But I don't have, or have never had, the need to, like, have it be something written in stone somehow."

Sarah added that she wants to maintain a sense of "freedom", but in a particular way.

She explained: "The stoneness of it makes me want to, like, it gives me the heebie-jeebies. I want to feel this kind of freedom.

"That's not about being away from her or being with another person.

"It's just about maintaining some sense of my own independence, and I think Holland feels that way too. We just have never, ever, ever felt the need to... I don't know."

The couple will celebrate 12 years together in January, having first met in 2005 and started dating a decade later.

Sarah pointed out that despite their long lasting commitment, neither of them want to be called "wife".

She said: "We're not married, first of all, but somehow, it's, like, the thought of that is just not... I don't like it... belonging to someone."

Her comments come a few weeks after Holland opened up on why they still have separate homes after over a decade together.

Asked if it's true they don't live together, she told The Drew Barrymore Show: "Well we do as much time as we possibly can, because work takes us apart constantly.

"But I have an apartment here [in New York City], and [Paulson] stays here in my apartment when she's here."

Holland clarified that if they're in NYC at the same time, they stay at her apartment "together".

They each have their own separate home in Los Angeles, but Sarah has been living at her partner's house while she waits to move into a new property she's bought.

The Two And A Half Man star explained: "In LA, I have a separate house from hers, but her new house, she hasn't moved into.

"It's been almost a year since she's been staying in my house in LA, too. So we're together as much as geography and our jobs let us be."