Linda Tripp-Rousch doesn’t care who plays her in “Linda and Monica” and has no intention of seeing the Amazon Studios movie about the White House intern and the colleague who secretly recorded their phone conversations.
While it has been reported that Dakota Fanning and Shailene Woodley are vying for the part of Monica Lewinsky, no names have been mentioned to play Linda.
“They should check John Goodman’s availability,” Tripp-Rousch scoffed, referring to the portly actor who played her on “Saturday Night Live.”
Tripp-Rousch, whose tape recordings brought about Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial, expects to be portrayed as a villain.
“It’s unlikely they’ll show Bill Clinton as a predator exploiting a willing young girl . . . She consented. She instigated. But she was a kid.”
Tripp-Rousch said she only decided to start documenting evidence in July 1997.
“When Monica was threatening to expose the affair and told the president I knew about it, he sicced [deputy counsel] Bruce Lindsey on me,” she said. “I knew from that point on it was going to be dicey.”
It’s a shame if the producers cast a fat actress as Linda. “They might be surprised to see what I look like today. That hulking person no longer exists,” she said. “I’m happy now and not eating myself into oblivion to relieve stress.”
Linda married her childhood sweetheart, German architect Dieter Rousch, 13 years ago. The couple, who have seven grandchildren between them, live on a farm in Middleburg, Va., with 16 horses.
“It’s paradise with complete autonomy and privacy, and that’s how I like it,” Linda said.
Tripp-Rousch hasn’t spoken to Monica in many years but bears her no ill will. “I hope [the producers] do her justice, because she’s a lovely, intelligent girl — just lacking a moral compass.”