Sarah Paulson calls out 'weird' critics who slammed her portrayal of Aileen Wuornos in Lizzie Borden series

Sarah Paulson has issued some choice words for anyone criticising her portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.

Aileen Wuornos was a sex worker who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering seven men who solicited her for sex.

She initially claimed she had killed them in self-defense, stating several of them had attempted to rape her leading her to fear for her life. Wuornos later admitted she killed the men in cold blood in order to rob them, and in some cases, steal their cars.

Many viewers of Ryan Murphy's Monster series found it odd that Wuornos had been brought into The Lizzie Borden Story, given the fact their timelines date nearly 100 years apart. However, the killer's story was briefly shoe-horned into the series as it was suggested Wuornos had been 'inspired' by Borden's actions, despite the latter never having been found guilty of any crimes.

Aileen Wuornos killed seven men (Netflix)

Meanwhile, Paulson has found herself on the receiving end of criticism for her portrayal of Wuornos, not because she was included in the series, but because many viewers have been comparing her portrayal to Charlize Theron, who played the murderer in the 2003 movie Monster, earning her an Oscar.

"It’s just the sort of weird thing where it’s like, I didn’t set out to do something better than Charlize Theron,” Sarah Paulson told Netflix’s Shut Up Evan podcast.

"I didn’t set out to blast hers off the screen or something – as if anyone could do that. It’s the most glorious performance in the world."

She added: "People get to reinterpret great plays all the time. No one goes, 'Oh I don’t want to see Glenn Close’s version of this play because I saw so-and-so’s version or this director’s.'"

Paulson admitted that as soon as she was offered the chance to play Wuornos in the Netflix series she immediately knew people would compare her to Theron.

"It flashed in front of me like, 'People are going to compare it to Charlize, and that’s going to be so – why would I do that?'" she explained.

Sarah Paulson has hit back at critics (John Nacion/FX via Getty Images)

"Why would I want to go out in the world and give a performance when someone has won an Oscar for that? Like, that’s some kind of psycho behaviour on your part, Sarah Paulson."

However, the actor has quite rightly pointed out that individual artists are well within their rights to interpret characters differently and therefore portray them in their own way.

"This is my interpretation of Aileen Wuornos based on the research I did and based on my personhood and how it comes out through me," she said. "It’s not an attempt to do something like anybody ever did."

In another interview, Paulson admitted playing Wuornos was 'one of the greatest experiences of my life getting to do that and hard and scary'.

"I feel very, very honoured and touched that people have been responding positively to it. It was a really scary thing to do," she told People.

"Obviously, many people have played that role, and brilliantly. So, to throw my hat in the ring of one of the many interpretations of the character felt like a real honour and a total parachute jump out of a plane."