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Sarah Paulson has admitted, in hindsight, she shouldn’t have worn a fat suit for her portrayal of Linda Tripp in ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story‘.
The 46-year-old star plays the real-life civil servant who served a major role in exposing Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky in 1998 in the third season of the FX true crime anthology television series.
And the actress has reflected on the criticism she faced and how it’s important not to dismiss “fatphobia”, which is very “real”.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times newspaper, Sarah said: “It’s very hard for me to talk about this without feeling like I’m making excuses.
“I think fatphobia is real. I think to pretend otherwise causes further harm.
“And it is a very important conversation to be had.”
If she was asked to wear one again, she would decline.
She continued: “I think the thing I think about the most is that I regret not thinking about it more fully.
“And that is an important thing for me to think about and reflect on. I also know it’s a privileged place to be sitting and thinking about it and reflecting on it, having already gotten to do it, and having had an opportunity that someone else didn’t have. You can only learn what you learn when you learn it.
“Should I have known? Abso-f*****-lutely. But I do now. And I wouldn’t make the same choice going forward.”
However, the Emmy Award-winner has insisted it shouldn’t be “the entire responsibility” of the actor.
Sarah explained: “But that entire responsibility I don’t think falls on the actor for choosing to do something that is arguably – and I’m talking about from the inside out – the challenge of a lifetime.
“I do think to imagine that the only thing any actor called upon to play this part would have to offer is their physical self is a real reduction of the offering the actor has to make. I would like to believe that there is something in my being that makes me right to play this part. And that the magic of hair and make-up departments and costumers and cinematographers that has been part of moviemaking, and suspension of belief, since the invention of cinema. Was I supposed to say no [to the part]? This is the question.”
