Ginnifer Goodwin: Big Love Is 'Sugar-Coated' Polygamy

The allegations of abuse at the recently-raided polygamist compound in West Texas hit close to home for Ginnifer Goodwin, who plays one of Bill Paxton's three wives in HBO's Big Love.

Still, she's quick to point out, the show is fiction – and its main goal is "to entertain."

Dressed to the nines at Monday night's YSL Opening Night Gala benefit at Metropolitan Opera in New York, Goodwin pointed out that her character's clothes – while dowdy – are a far cry from the Little House on the Prairie fashion sensibility shown in news footage of the renegade sect run by fundamentalist Warren Jeffs.

"My character does not come from that world," the 29-year-old actress told PEOPLE. "She's married into a family who come fromRep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif. Bill Clark | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images

Republican Rep. Jeff Denham and his Democratic challenger, Josh Harder, are in one of California's hardest-fought congressional races, which has drawn national interest and increasingly become highly personal and bitter. The two are political polar opposites — Denham, an almond farmer and conservative ally of President Donald Trump, and Harder, a venture capitalist and moderate who supports Obamacare. The two also have clashed on issues such as taxes, immigration and water policy. Harder, a 32-year-old who recently worked at tech investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners, told CNBC in a recent interview he became involved in politics after Denham voted to repeal the Obama-era Affordable Care Act. He said the issue is very personal to him, since