Paula Jones Is Fuming About Her Portrayal In Impeachment

The infamous tale of impropriety between 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton and his ex-White House intern Monica Lewinsky in 1999 is stamped in American history as one of the biggest scandals an American president has ever faced. Clinton was the first president almost impeached since Andrew Johnson in 1868, but Clinton was acquitted by the Senate, per History.

Clinton and Lewinsky's lives weren't the only ones severely impacted by the implications of that infamous scandal; there was also Paula Jones. Jones was an Arkansas state employee when she sued Clinton back in 1994, claiming while he was governor of Arkansas, he was inappropriate with her as well by exposing himself to her in a hotel room. The case was eventually settled out of court for $850,000, per The New York Times, but it was one of the catalysts that started the momentum for Ken Starr to open his independent counsel investigation into the president's financial affairs, which led him to look for other accusations of other affairs.

All of these accounts of inappropriate interactions with President Clinton are displayed on the hit TV show "American Crime Story: Impeachment," which was created by Ryan Murphy. It marks the third season of Murphy's crime anthology and was released in September on FX. While Murphy tries to accurately reflect what went on during that time, it seems not everybody is happy with the way they were portrayed in the story, especially Jones. This is why. 

Paula Jones is not too keen about how actor Annaleigh Ashford portrayed her life in the TV series "American Crime Story: Impeachment." In fact, Jones told Inside Edition on September 14 that she believes a lot of it was inaccurate and "almost cartoonish-y."

Jones also feels animosity toward the way the media has embraced Monica Lewinski's tragic story, but disregarded her own. "I find it funny that Monica can have a relationship in the Oval Office, under the Oval desk, yet ... people want to hear her story," she retorted to the news show. "It makes no sense to me. I have always been shunned and made fun of." Jones also proclaimed that no one from the show reached out to her: "How can they portray somebody accurately if they don't even call them?" she asked. 

Ashford was worried about misrepresenting Jones' story in the show. "You're always afraid of making them a caricature because sometimes in real life they feel a little bit larger than life, and she is one of those people," Ashford explained to Vanity Fair on September 8. "You don't want to do an impression of the person, but you do want to give their essence. So I tried to really pick and choose things about her physicality, things about her vocal timbre and also dialect."

If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit RAINN.org for additional resources.