Sarah Paulson Says She has 'Regret' Playing Linda Tripp in Fat Suit for 'American Crime Story'

The new season of "American Crime Story" debuts next week but its star Sarah Paulson is already expressing that she has "regret" for her role in the project.

"Impeachment: American Crime Story" premieres Sept. 7 on FX and follows the impeachment of President Bill Clinton but Paulson, who plays Linda Tripp, is already facing a backlash for wearing a fat suit. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, the actor already expressed "regret" for the choice.

"It's very hard for me to talk about this without feeling like I'm making excuses," she told the newspaper. "There's a lot of controversy around actors and fat suits, and I think that controversy is a legitimate one. I think fat phobia is real. I think to pretend otherwise causes further harm. And it is a very important conversation to be had."

Indeed Paulson, 46, looks nearly unrecognizable in the suit, makeup and wig. Fans got a first look at her in the "ACS" trailer.

"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," Paulson went on to say to the Times. "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 makeup 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," Paulson said. "I think the thing I think about the most is that I regret not thinking about it more fully."

The "Ratchet" star said that it is "important" for her to "think about and reflect on" the situation.

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," Paulson said. "Should I have known? Abso-f–ing-lutely. But I do now. And I wouldn't make the same choice going forward."

"Impeachment: American Crime Story" also stars Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky, Clive Owen as Bill Clinton, Edie Falco as Hillary Clinton, Annaleigh Ashford as Paula Jones, Margo Martindale as Lucianne Goldberg, Billy Eichner as Matt Drudge, and more.

Revisit the trailer below.