{"id":1227,"date":"2025-06-28T21:53:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T21:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/?p=1227"},"modified":"2025-06-28T21:53:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T21:53:50","slug":"monica-lewinsky-gets-candid-30-years-after-clinton-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realnewsz13.store\/?p=1227","title":{"rendered":"Monica Lewinsky gets candid 30 years after Clinton affair"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Monica<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s been three decades since Monica Lewinsky\u2019s name became etched into American history \u2014 but now, at 51, she\u2019s reclaiming her story in her own words.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Appearing on Elizabeth Day\u2019s podcast\u00a0How To Fail<\/em>, the former White House intern reflected on the high-profile affair with then-President Bill Clinton that not only rocked Washington, but also nearly ruined her life.<\/p>\n

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Lewinsky\u00a0<\/a>was just 22 when the scandal broke. Clinton was 49 and the most powerful man in the world. The relationship dominated headlines, triggered an impeachment, and unleashed a tidal wave of public shaming \u2014 mostly aimed at her.<\/p>\n

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Reveals whether she loved Bill Clinton or not<\/h2>\n

And for the first time in years, Monica is revisiting the emotional truth behind it all.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was 22 to 24-year-old young woman\u2019s love,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think there was some limerence there and all sorts of other things, but that\u2019s how I saw it then. I think it was also an abuse of power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewinsky didn\u2019t hold back when talking about the damaging narrative the White House pushed after the scandal broke.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy very first job out of college was working in the White House,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s the kind of trajectory that someone thinks then 10, 12 years later, that person\u2019s not going to be able to get hired.\u201d<\/p>\n

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White House intern Monica Lewinsky meeting President Bill Clinton at a White House function submitted as evidence in documents by the Starr investigation and released by the House Judicary committee September 21, 1998.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the affair was exposed, Lewinsky said the Clinton administration spun a humiliating version of her\u2014branding her with the outdated and degrading label: \u201cbimbo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t a dumb bimbo. I was portrayed to be, and that was a big struggle for me to deal with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that much of the backlash came from women, even though it was a narrative \u201ccrafted and put out by the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat mantle was picked up by a lot of women,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Following the scandal, Clinton initially denied the affair \u2014 until August 17, 1998, when he publicly admitted he was \u201csolely and completely responsible\u201d for the relationship.<\/p>\n

Became the butt of jokes<\/h2>\n

Lewinsky has spoken out before about the immense toll the media circus took on her. She became the butt of jokes, was hounded by reporters, and fell into a deep depression.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love and appreciate who I am now, but I think for so many different reasons, I would\u2019ve liked a more normal life,\u201d she admitted.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI would\u2019ve liked to have had a more normal trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Monica
Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During a separate appearance on the\u00a0Call Her Daddy<\/em>\u00a0podcast with host Alex Cooper, Monica dove even deeper into what life was like after becoming\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0intern.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were 22 years old, he was 49, you were an intern. He was the President of the United States,\u201d Cooper framed.<\/p>\n

Lewinsky responded:<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very quickly painted as a stalker, mentally unstable, not attractive enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pointed out one key detail<\/h2>\n

The cost of that reputation, she said, was losing not just her anonymity but her future.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the power dynamics, and the power differential, I never should\u2019ve been in that f***ing position,\u201d she admitted.<\/p>\n

Looking back, Monica says the damage wasn\u2019t limited to her own life. She points to one key detail: it left lasting scars on an entire generation of women who watched her be publicly shamed and humiliated for a deeply personal mistake.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere was so much collateral damage for women of my generation to watch a young woman to be pilloried on the world stage, to be torn apart for my sexuality, for my mistakes, for my everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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