Sarah Paulson Trounces Actor For 'Outrageous' 6-Page Email Of Notes On Her Performance
Sarah Paulson is officially successful enough to slam other actors who slighted her in the past.
The Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner appeared on this week’s episode of the “Smartless” podcast, where, prompted by a discussion about celebrities visiting actors backstage after a play, she recalled what she described as an “outrageous” experience from 2013.
“I did a play called ‘Talley’s Folly’ at the Roundabout [in New York]... and the actress — and I’m going to say this, and I’m not going to ask you to cut this out, because I don’t fucking care — this actress came to the play,” Paulson said Monday. “Her name’s Trish Hawkins. Hi Trish!”
Paulson earned rave reviews for her performance as Salley Talley in Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, but not from Hawkins — the actor who first played the character during the production’s 1979 off-Broadway and 1980 Broadway runs.
“Trish Hawkins came to this play — am I going to get sued? I don’t care, because I think this is outrageous,” Paulson said on the podcast. “She came to the play, proceeded to say... ‘Your dress is yellow. Mine was pink.’ And I thought, ‘What?’ Cut to two days later.”
Paulson said Hawkins had emailed her six pages of notes on her performance, as well as a detailed rundown of how she herself had tackled the role in her day. Paulson said Hawkins’ actions were “really outrageous.”
“Trish Hawkins, I have not forgotten it,” Paulson said Monday, “and I hope to see you never.”
The podcast hosts — fellow actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett — seemed delighted by Paulson’s story. Arnett even told her they’re going to become fast friends because he loves her ability to hold grudges for more than a decade “so fucking much.”
Hawkins, now in her late 70s, doesn’t have a platform to defend herself like Paulson, who concluded the story lightly by noting she still has Hawkins’ email, and explaining that her own mother brought Hawkins to the play because “they were in some kind of writing group together.”
When asked if she told her mother about the aftermath, Paulson said she simply put the incident “back in the file of things my mother has done” instead.
HuffPost could not immediately reach Hawkins for comment on Tuesday. Hawkins reportedly did not respond to Entertainment Weekly’s request for comment.
Paulson is currently starring in Broadway’s “Appropriate.”
