“Impeachment: American Crime Story” and “Funny Girl” Star Beanie Feldstein Covers W Magazine’s Pop & Fall Fashion Issue

W Magazine Volume 4 The Pop & Fall Fashion Issue, on stands September 14^th, features Funny Girl and Impeachment: American Crime Story actress Beanie Feldstein on the first of four covers. In her first major magazine cover, Feldstein talks taking on her most challenging material yet as the world’s most famous intern, Monica Lewinsky, a near major wardrobe malfunction at last year’s Oscars and her first celebrity crush (Hint: it’s the original Funny Girl herself, Barbra Streisand!)

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On the similarities and differences between her and Monica Lewinsky who she portrays in the upcoming series Impeachment: “My task is to be Monica’s bodyguard—to put my body in front of hers. It’s my job to portray her pain, because I feel so much for her… Monica and I are cut from the same cloth in so many ways…We’re both Jewish girls from L.A. who listen to show tunes on the treadmill! But still, I never felt less in my comfort place than when I was playing Monica. Obviously, I’m queer, so I don’t know if I’d flirt with the president, but who knows? When Clinton shined his light on you, there was no better feeling in the world. It wouldn’t matter if you were male, female, nonbinary, queer. When that man put his spotlight on you, the world fell away. And if I was 22 and the most powerful person in the world focused his high beams on me, I would probably do the exact same thing as Monica.”

Recalling how close she came to a major wardrobe malfunction at last year’s Oscars: ““I was wearing a stunning dress that had a halter clasp at the neck… The gown had boning and a sort of shelf for the bust, but there was no bra involved. I’m all about representation, and I’m here to represent big, low-hanging Jewish breasts…The halter on the dress was struggling. It was hanging on for dear life. There was a countdown clock backstage, and there was a minute and 20 seconds left before I had to go on in front of an audience of millions. Next to me was the wall of Oscar statues that they were about to hand out to incredible people. I was nervous and accidentally stepped on the front hem of my dress, and with that step, the clasp gave way. At that point, there was 18 seconds to go. Luckily, someone backstage had a safety pin and reclasped me, but I almost flashed the entire world that night…The moral of this story is, I’m a busty, low-hanging Jewish girl, and you have to be who you are. Which means no more halters.”

On her childhood celebrity crush: “My first celebrity crush was Barbra. My mom made me a leopard coat and hat, and I did a full photo shoot in my driveway. Actually, Jonah skateboarded through and knocked me down, so there are tons of pictures of me crying in my Funny Girl costume.”

[Photo Credit: Inez & Vinoodh for W Magazine]

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