When it came to Sarah Paulson playing controversial political figure Linda Tripp in Impeachment: American Crime Story, Monica Lewinsky had one major concern.
Lewinsky, who produced the series, addressed this fear directly to Paulson when the Emmy-winning actress was a guest recently on her podcast, Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky. Pointing out that the series, which followed the infamous Clinton–Lewinsky scandal and subsequent impeachment of President Bill Clinton, marked her first time both producing and being a subject, Lewinsky then reflected on the moments she “panicked” behind the scenes.
Specifically, she said, “I was so afraid that you would do such a good job that then people — it was this irrational like 5-year-old fear of, ‘Oh no, now everybody’s going to like [her]’ — and I remember you so generously said to me early on, you were so assuring of like, ‘We’re not giving her the Marcia Clark treatment,'” referring to Paulson’s previous role as the real-life O.J. Simpson prosecutor, which had a positive reception.
Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky/Youtube
Not that Paulson was bothered in the slightest by this admission.
“I think any amount of humanity coming out into the world towards Linda would be uncomfortable for you, as well it should be, you know what I mean?” she told Lewinsky. “I think that it was a very difficult thing for you to sort of be sitting inside and trying to balance your producorial responsibilities or your desire to sort of want to make sure that certain truths were being told.”
The actress continued, “It would be a very natural fear, I would think, to me, to worry that somehow that some of the scripts were like, ‘Is this a way of trying to exonerate this person emotionally? Am I sanctioning this? Am I not?’ You know, it’s hard.”
Tripp worked in the Pentagon during the Clinton administration, where she quickly became a close confidante to Lewinsky, who had started as an intern in the White House in her early 20s before earning a full-time position. Tripp controversially recorded her private conversations with Lewinsky and released those tapes during the Clinton vs. Jones sexual harassment lawsuit.
In the end, while Paulson admitted she didn’t agree with what Tripp did, she was proud of the job she did in bringing her to life on screen. So much so, she considered getting an “L” tattooed on her body.
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“It was one of those sorts of things that will forever be something I’m the most proud of in terms of my performance, and I don’t say that about, like, anything I’ve ever done,” Paulson said, adding that she’s never seen the first season of the crime anthology series, in which she played Clark.
“I know people responded very positively to it, but I haven’t watched it myself. But the Linda thing I did watch, and I really was like, ‘Wow, I am truly proud of the work I did on it,'” she continued. “So the tattoo was not so much like ‘I love Linda Tripp,’ but more of this feeling of this experience was something I wanted to mark somehow in a kind of ceremonial way for myself — but I didn’t do it.”