One member of Linda Tripp's family is offering Sarah Paulson's Impeachment performance a seal of approval.
Allison Tripp, daughter of Linda Tripp, praised Paulson's portrayal of her late mother on FX's Impeachment: American Crime Story. The first episode that debuted this week focuses heavily on Tripp, who secretly recorded conversations with Monica Lewinsky discussing her relationship with then-President Bill Clinton, and it depicts her frustrations with being moved from a job in the White House to the Pentagon.
"I have to say — and I'm only limited to the one episode that I've seen — but I do think Sarah did a good job," Allison Tripp told Vanity Fair. "Of course there were some inaccuracies I see as her daughter, but I think she did a good job relaying to the audience that my mother was about loyalty and integrity and doing what was right. ... She captured a lot of my mom — just how smart and witty she was."
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Paulson's performance has been somewhat controversial due to her wearing of prosthetics and "padding" in addition to gaining 30 pounds, and the actress has expressed regrets about doing so. Still, Allison told Vanity Fair she's "sad to say" the show portrayed her in a "more flattering way than how she was portrayed when she was alive." John Goodman played Tripp on Saturday Night Live in the 1990s.
Linda Tripp died in 2020, but Allison told Vanity Fair her late mother would have been "blown away" if she could have watched Impeachment and seen herself depicted as a "hard-working, loyal, gritty woman who has a lot of integrity." This reaction was just based on the first episode, though, so Allison expressed hope the rest of the season will similarly "humanize my mother." Read the full interview at Vanity Fair.
