#Monica Lewinsky Had To Hire A Therapist To Watch Impeachment: American Crime Story With Her!

It’s not easy being a producer on a show that follows a traumatizing moment in your life, which is why Monica Lewinsky needed a therapist while working on the upcoming limited series, Impeachment: American Crime Story!

As fans know, the newest season of Ryan Murphy’s series chronicles the real-life affair between Lewinsky, who is played by Beanie Feldstein, and President Bill Clinton, who is portrayed by Clive Owen. As a producer — and not just any producer: the only producer with a firsthand account of what went down during the scandal — Monica needed to watch clips of the series and take down notes.

But the job unsurprisingly put her in a vulnerable position — so she decided to enlist a therapist to watch the show with her over Zoom and help guide her through it!

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When asked why she felt the need to do this, the former White House intern told The Hollywood Reporter:

“Because it’s hard. It’s really hard, especially with the dramatic license that needs to be taken.”

We honestly can’t even imagine!

Although Lewinsky worked closely with Beanie to create the on-screen version of herself, the producer was reportedly never around when the Lady Bird actress was in character on set. In fact, the only time Lewinsky came to set at all was during production on scenes centered on Annaleigh Ashford’s Paula Jones, according to Impeachment exec producer Nina Jacobson, because “it was less fraught.”

As for why she decided to join the limited series as a producer, Lewinsky told the outlet she has “a number of selfish reasons for wanting to participate,” but she confessed her “big goal” is to make sure “this never happens to another young person again.”

That said, Lewinsky wasn’t necessarily concerned with painting herself in the most innocent light. She actually told writer Sarah Burgess to include a scene where Monica revealed a bit of her thong to POTUS — a moment the scribe initially had left out of the script out of concern for “retraumatizing” the 48-year-old.

Monica explained:

“Listen, I would’ve loved to have been really selfish and said, ‘That’s great that you guys think we don’t have to show that, fantastic.’ But I’m incredibly experienced in understanding how people see this story. So, ultimately, I felt two things: One was that I shouldn’t get a pass because I’m a producer; and two, that it was unfair to the team and to the project because it would leave everybody vulnerable.”

See the story unfold when Impeachment: American Crime Story premieres Sept. 7 on FX.

[Image via FX/Sheri Determan/WENN]