Impeachment: American Crime Story debuts tonight on FX. The series turns its lens toward the affairs and scandals of former president Bill Clinton, as told through the eyes of the women, including Monica Lewinsky, Linda Tripp and Paula Jones.
Annaleigh Ashford, who plays Jones, tells ABC Audio that the series will tackle the well-known scandal from a different angle.
“We’re really focusing on the narrative of the women and the point of view of the women in the story, which was so ignored, overlooked and taken away from these women during that time in history,” Ashford says, adding that the women were “brutalized” in the media and late-night comedy.
“That’s sort of the interesting thing about this time in American history…it was such a salacious media event,” says the 36-year-old actress. “Even as a kid, I was super aware of what was happening and super aware that it was extremely controversial and very sexual. And really, my window into this time was through late night comedy, which I think sort of says it all.”
Ashford believes the series also offers insight into how the country became so divided.
“I feel like if we could find the root cause for the sickness we have now, it would stem back to this moment in the mid 90s where it just became my team, your team, and it was the beginning of bullying on the Internet,” she suggests. “Monica Lewinsky was the first person to be bullied on the Internet. And it was truly the beginning of sort of the Fox News [versus] CNN battle.”
The third installment of Ryan Murphy‘s American Crime Story franchise also stars Beanie Feldstein, Sarah Paulson, Clive Owen, Edie Falco, Billy Eichner, Cobie Smulders and Betty Gilpin.
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