How to handle gossip getting out about you?

I had a roommate for a few years who I was initially close to, and then things went south. She thought the guy I was dating was a “loser who dressed badly” and got very hostile toward me when I didn’t dump him (because she didn’t like him). She started picking on me with minor things about dishes, noise, etc—stuff that had never been a problem for the years we had lived together previously.

We each had our own view of the situation; it has been a long time and I still think she was about 90% wrong in everything that happened, and I’m sure she thinks the same about me.

We have fairly broad and well-connected social circles, and it got back to me that she was trash-talking me to anyone who would listen. I distanced myself from all of her close friends and am polite when I have to see them.

I have been invited to a birthday party soon for a close friend, who happens to be close friends with the old roommate’s close friends. I am sure she has said terrible things about me to them.

I want to go to my friend’s party, but I worry it will be terribly awkward. Should I just go and not acknowledge the gossip of the past?