In a recent interview, Monica Lewinsky shared some never-before-heard aspects of the consequences of her affair with former President Bill Clinton. During an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, Lewinsky told host Alex Cooper that she intends to rebuild her public image, which was significantly damaged after her illicit bond with Clinton came to light.
Lewinsky claimed that she was portrayed as a “stalker” and a “mentally unstable” person and that she was body-shamed as well. She also seemed to regret the entire fiasco, saying she “never should’ve been” in that kind of a situation.
“I was in my early 30s, I had nothing. That was the point when I realized how much had been taken from me. I lost my future. I was very quickly painted as a stalker, mentally unstable, not attractive enough. Because of the power dynamics and the power differential, I never should’ve been in that f—g position,” Monica Lewinsky said.
View this post on Instagram
Lewinsky, who was an unpaid intern at the office of White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta at the time, also felt that Bill Clinton should have stepped down as President after their affair came to light and that he could’ve found a better way to handle the scandal instead of “lying” and “throwing a young person under the bus.”
“I think the right way to handle a situation like that would have been to probably say it was nobody’s business and to resign. Or, to find a way of staying in office that was not lying and not throwing a young person that was just starting out in the world under the bus,” said Monica Lewinsky.
View this post on Instagram
While it is true that Bill Clinton didn’t step down after his affair with Lewinsky became public, it did eventually lead to his impeachment. However, he did not admit to it that easily or instantly. The former President denied the affair vehemently on numerous occasions, eventually admitting to it on television on August 17. 1998.
Since then, Monica Lewinsky has publicly spoken about the affair multiple times, but it did take her time to face the public and media and their questions. The initial response to the affair was so overwhelming that Lewinsky withdrew from the public eye, revealing that the tabloids’ incessant hounding drove her to the point of contemplating taking her own life.
View this post on Instagram
Speaking about those dark moments years later, Lewinsky said, “I just couldn’t see a way out, and I thought that maybe was the solution.” Though she found it “terrifying” to step back out in the open, Monica Lewinsky shared that it helped her “reclaim” the narrative about her life.
