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{{short description|American activist and writer (born 1973)}} | |||
{{Infobox_Person | |||
{{redirect|Lewinsky|the surname|Lewinsky (surname)}} | |||
| name = Monica Samille Lewinsky | |||
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| image = Monica lewinsky.jpg | |||
{{pp-blp|small=yes}} | |||
| image_size = 175px | |||
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2018}} | |||
| caption = Monica Lewinsky as she appeared on her U.S. Government ID in ] | |||
{{Infobox person | |||
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1973|7|23}} | |||
| image = Monica Lewinsky.jpg<!--new image always in the lead, 1997 should be in that section--> | |||
| birth_place =], ] | |||
| alt = Monica Lewinsky | |||
| education = ] in ] (]) <br> ] in ] (]) | |||
| caption = Lewinsky speaking at ] | |||
| occupation = ] ] <br> ] | |||
| birth_name = Monica Samille Lewinsky | |||
| residence = | |||
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1973|7|23}} | |||
| children = | |||
| birth_place = ], California, U.S. | |||
| parents = | |||
| education = ]<br>[[Lewis & Clark College|Lewis and Clark College | |||
|}} | |||
]] (])<br>] (]) | |||
'''Monica Samille Lewinsky''' (born ], ]) is an ] woman with whom then ] ] admitted to having had an "inappropriate relationship"<ref></ref> while Lewinsky worked as an unpaid intern (entry level staff employee) at the ] in ] and ], at the age of 22. The tawdry nature of the ordeal and its resulting repercussions in the ] and the surrounding ] of 1997-99 became known as the ]. The scandal overwhelmed media coverage of more serious public policy matters and raised serious questions about Clinton's judgement and character among the public. | |||
| occupation = {{flat list| | |||
* Activist | |||
* television personality (formerly) | |||
* government assistant (formerly) | |||
}} | |||
| years_active = 1995–2005; 2014–present | |||
| employer = ]<br />] | |||
| known = ] | |||
| parents = ]<br />Marcia Lewis | |||
}} | |||
'''Monica Samille Lewinsky''' (born July 23, 1973)<ref name="cnn-whois"/> is an American activist. Lewinsky became internationally known in the late 1990s after U.S. President ] admitted to having had an affair with her during her days as a White House intern between 1995 and 1997. The affair and its repercussions (which included ]) became known as the ]. | |||
Following the scandal, Lewinsky engaged in a variety of ventures that included designing a line of handbags under her name, serving as an advertising spokesperson for a diet plan, and working as a television personality. She obtained a master's degree in psychology from the ] in 2006. In 2014, Lewinsky began speaking out as an activist against ]. | |||
== Early life == | == Early life == | ||
Lewinsky was born in ], California, and grew up in an affluent family in ] in the ] ] area of ] and later in ].<ref name="Morton1999">{{cite book |last=Morton |first=Andrew R. |author-link=Andrew Morton (writer) |title=Monica's Story |url=https://archive.org/details/monicasstory00mort |url-access=registration |year=1999 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0-312-97362-4 |page=357}}</ref><ref name="WashpoProfile" /><ref name="cnn-whois">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/08/06/lewinsky.profile/ |title=Who Is Monica Lewinsky? |author=Aiken, Jonathan |publisher=CNN |date=August 6, 1998}}</ref><ref name="jta" /> Her father is ], an ], who is the son of ] who emigrated from ] in the 1920s, first moving to ] and then finally to the United States when he was 14.<ref name="WashpoProfile" /><ref name="mworld">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/23/time/pooley.html |title=Monica's World |author=Pooley, Eric |magazine=Time |date=February 23, 1998}}</ref> Her mother, born Marcia Kay Vilensky, is an author who uses the name Marcia Lewis. In 1996, she wrote a "gossip biography", '']''. Lewinsky’s maternal grandfather, Samuel M. Vilensky, was a ], and her maternal grandmother, Bronia Poleshuk, was born in the ] of ], ], to a ] family.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.nydailynews.com/1998-08-09/news/18078775_1_monica-lewinsky-friends-marcia-lewis |title=Monica's Mom Defended |date=August 9, 1998 |newspaper=] |location=New York |access-date=September 10, 2011 |archive-date=July 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707135201/http://articles.nydailynews.com/1998-08-09/news/18078775_1_monica-lewinsky-friends-marcia-lewis |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/02/news/ls-35076/2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224131532/http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/02/news/ls-35076/2 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 24, 2013 |work=Los Angeles Times |title=Monica's Mom, the Reluctant Starr Witness |date=April 2, 1998}}</ref> Lewinsky’s parents divorced in 1988 and each has remarried.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/02/monica.mom/ |title=Lewinsky's mother to wed media executive |publisher=CNN |date=February 2, 1998}}</ref><ref name="jta" /><ref name="WashpoProfile" /> | |||
Lewinsky was born in ], and grew up in ] on the west side of ] and in ]. She is of ]ish descent. Her father is Dr. Bernard Lewinsky, an oncologist; her mother, Marcia Lewis, is an author.<ref>http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/363/16489_celebrities.html</ref> Her parents are divorced. For her primary education she attended the John Thomas Dye School in ].<ref name="Wire"> | |||
by Leonard Gill, March 15, 1999. ''Memphis Flyer'' book review. Accessed December 18, 2006. | |||
</ref> She later attended ], but then left and graduated from ], formerly known as Bel Air Prep, as ]. | |||
The family attended ] in Los Angeles and Lewinsky attended ], the school affiliated with the Temple.<ref name="jta">{{cite news |url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/7521/l-a-temple-fends-off-lewinsky-inquiries/ |title=L.A. temple fends off Lewinsky inquiries |author=Tugend, Tom |agency=] |newspaper=] |date=January 30, 1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221094718/http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/7521/l-a-temple-fends-off-lewinsky-inquiries/ |archive-date=February 21, 2010 |df=mdy-all |access-date=December 29, 2009 }}</ref> For her primary education, she attended the ] in ].<ref name="Wire">At Pacific Hills School (formerly Bel-Air Prep) she won the "Outstanding Junior of the Year" award. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061112175517/http://www.weeklywire.com/ww/03-15-99/memphis_book.html |date=November 12, 2006 }} by Leonard Gill, March 15, 1999. ''Memphis Flyer'' book review. Retrieved December 18, 2006.</ref> Lewinsky attended ] for three years before transferring to ] (later known as ]), graduating in 1991.<ref name="WashpoProfile">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/lewprofile.htm |title=Lewinsky: Two Coasts, Two Lives, Many Images |author=Leen, Jeff |newspaper=] |date=January 24, 1998 |page=A1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907170242/http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/lewprofile.htm |archive-date=September 7, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name="cnn-whois" /> | |||
She initially attended ] but transferred and graduated with a ] degree from ] in ] in ]. Lewinsky moved to ], where she worked at the ] as an ] starting in July 1995, getting a paid job there in November 1995. | |||
Following her high school graduation, Lewinsky attended ] while working for the drama department at Beverly Hills High School and at a tie shop.<ref name="WashpoProfile" /><ref name="people">{{cite news |author=Green, Michelle |date=February 9, 1998 |title=Scandal at 1600 |magazine=] |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20124429,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=December 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050331/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20124429,00.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref> In 1992, she began a five-year affair with Andy Bleiler, her married former high school drama instructor.<ref name="wapo-bleiler">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/drama012898.htm |title=Lewinsky's Former Teacher Discloses Affair |first=William |last=Clairborne |newspaper=] |date=January 28, 1998 |page=A22}}</ref> In 1993, she enrolled at ] in ], graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1995.<ref name="WashpoProfile" /><ref name="cnn-whois" /><ref name="people" /> In an appearance on '']'' in 2000, she revealed that she started an affair with a 40-year-old married man in Los Angeles when she was 18 years old, and that the affair continued while she was attending Lewis & Clark College in the early 1990s; she did not disclose the man's identity.<ref name="Usa_news_9/12/2021">{{cite web | title=Monica Lewinsky Once Revealed She Had A Relationship With A Married Man Prior To Bill Clinton Affair | website=USA News Site | date=September 12, 2021 | url=https://usanewssite.com/culture/monica-lewinsky-once-revealed-she-had-a-relationship-with-a-married-man-prior-to-bill-clinton-affair/ | access-date=September 13, 2021}}</ref> | |||
== Scandal == | |||
{{Main|Lewinsky scandal}} | |||
Between ], ] – ], ], Lewinsky had an intimate relationship with President Bill Clinton. She later testified that the relationship involved ] in the Oval Office and other sexual contact but that ] did not occur. | |||
With the assistance of a family connection, Lewinsky secured an unpaid summer ] internship in the office of ] ]. Lewinsky moved to Washington, D.C. and took up the position in July 1995.<ref name="WashpoProfile" /><ref name="people" /> She moved to a paid posting in the ] in December 1995.<ref name="WashpoProfile" /> | |||
Clinton had previously been dogged by allegations of ], most notably in regard to an alleged long-term relationship with singer and former ] state employee ], and an encounter with Arkansas state employee ] (née Corbin) in a ] hotel room in which Jones claimed that Clinton exposed himself to her. These events were alleged to have occurred during Clinton's time as ]. Lewinsky's name surfaced during legal proceedings connected to the latter matter, when Jones's lawyers sought corroborating evidence of Clinton's conduct to substantiate Jones's allegations. | |||
==Scandal== | |||
In April 1996, Lewinsky's superiors relocated her job to the Pentagon because they felt she was spending too much time around Clinton. Monica confided in a co-worker named ] about her relationship with the President. Beginning in September 1997, Tripp began secretly recording their telephone conversations regarding the affair with Clinton. In January 1998, after Lewinsky had submitted an ] in the Paula Jones case denying any physical relationship with Clinton, and attempted to persuade Tripp to lie under oath in the Jones case, Tripp gave the tapes to ] ], and these tapes added to his ongoing investigation into the ] controversy. Starr broadened his investigation to include investigating Lewinsky, Clinton, and others for possible ] and ] in the Jones case. Noteworthy for its revelation of Tripp's motivations was her reporting of their conversations to literary agent ]. Tripp also convinced Lewinsky to save the gifts that Clinton had given her during their affair, and not to dry clean what would later be infamously known as "the blue dress." | |||
{{Main|Clinton–Lewinsky scandal}} | |||
] | |||
] | |||
Lewinsky stated that she had nine sexual encounters with President ] in the ] between November 1995 and March 1997. According to her testimony, these encounters involved ] and other sexual acts, but not sexual intercourse.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-03-19-852575883_x.htm |title=Lewinsky and the first lady |date=March 19, 2008 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=January 19, 2010 |work=USA Today |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412161707/http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-03-19-852575883_x.htm |archive-date=April 12, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> | |||
Clinton had previously been confronted with allegations of sexual misconduct during his time as Governor of Arkansas. Former Arkansas state employee ] filed a civil lawsuit against him alleging that he had sexually harassed her. Lewinsky's name surfaced during the discovery phase of Jones' case, when Jones' lawyers sought to show a pattern of behavior by Clinton which involved inappropriate sexual relationships with other government employees.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Xq9fAAAAIBAJ&pg=3866,13572 |title=Paula Jones' lawyers want Lewinsky evidence |agency=] |newspaper=] |date=April 1, 1998 |page=A3}}</ref> | |||
While under ], Clinton denied having had "a ] ]," "sexual relations," or "a sexual relationship" with Lewinsky,<ref name="starr"> Accessed December 18, 2006.</ref> and on ] 1998 claimed "], Miss Lewinsky" in a nationally televised White House news conference. The line later became famous for its technical truthfulness but deceptive nature, based on one's definition of "sexual relations." | |||
In April 1996, Lewinsky's superiors transferred her from the White House to the Pentagon because they felt that she was spending too much time with Clinton.<ref name="WashpoProfile" /> At the Pentagon, she worked as an assistant to ] ].<ref name="WashpoProfile" /> In September 1997, after Lewinsky told co-worker ] about her relationship with Clinton, Tripp began to secretly record their telephone conversations. Lewinsky left her position at the Pentagon in December 1997,<ref name="cnn-know">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/01/31/credibility/index.html |title=Keeping Score In the Lewinsky Matter |publisher=] |date=January 31, 1998}}</ref> and in January 1998 submitted an affidavit in the Paula Jones case denying any physical relationship with Clinton. Though she attempted to persuade Tripp to lie under oath in that case, Tripp gave the tapes to Independent Counsel ], adding to his ongoing investigation into the ]. Starr then broadened his investigation beyond the Arkansas land use deal to include Lewinsky, Clinton, and others for possible perjury and subornation of perjury in the Jones case. Tripp reported the taped conversations to literary agent ]. She also convinced Lewinsky to save the gifts that Clinton had given her during their relationship and not to dry clean a blue dress that was stained with Clinton's semen. Under oath, Clinton denied having had "a sexual affair", "sexual relations", or "a sexual relationship" with Lewinsky.<ref name="starr"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001203073600/http://icreport.access.gpo.gov/report/6narrit.htm |date=December 3, 2000 }} Retrieved December 18, 2006.</ref> | |||
Clinton also said, "there is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship"<ref>]: </ref> which he defended as truthful on ] ] hearing because of the use of the present tense, famously arguing "it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is"<ref> </ref> (i.e., he was not, at the time he made that statement, still having a sexual relationship with Lewinsky). Under pressure from Starr, who as Clinton learned had obtained from Lewinsky a blue dress with Clinton's ] stain, as well as testimony from Lewinsky that the ] had inserted a ]-tube into her ], Clinton admitted that he lied to the American people and that he had had "inappropriate intimate contact" with Lewinsky. Clinton denied having committed perjury because, according to Clinton, the legal definition<REF NAME="sex-definition"> by Steve Kangas. Accessed February 12, 2006</REF> of ] was mutually exclusive of "sex" ''per se''. Clinton's insistence on the alleged distinction drew criticism from both political parties. | |||
News of the Clinton–Lewinsky relationship broke in January 1998. On January 26, 1998, Clinton stated, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" in a nationally televised White House news conference.<ref name="ls-nh" /> The matter instantly occupied the news media, and Lewinsky spent the next weeks hiding from public attention in her mother's residence at the ].<ref name="mworld" /> News of Lewinsky's affair with Andy Bleiler, her former high school drama instructor, also came to light, and he turned over to Starr various souvenirs, photographs, and documents that Lewinsky had sent him and his wife during the time that she was in the White House.<ref name="wapo-bleiler" /><ref name="cnn-know" /> | |||
In addition, relying upon the definition of "sexual relations" as proposed by the prosecution and agreed by the defense and by Judge ], who was hearing the Paula Jones case, Clinton claimed that because certain acts were performed on him, not by him, he did not engage in sexual relations. Lewinsky's testimony to the Starr Commission, however, contradicted Clinton's claim of being totally ] in their encounters. Clinton's lawyer later argued that different people can remember the same events in different ways. | |||
Clinton had also said, "There is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship"<ref name="ls-nh">''The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer'': {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080207152841/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june98/clinton_1-21.html |date=February 7, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="wapo081898">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clinton081898.htm |title=Clinton Admits to Lewinsky Relationship, Challenges Starr to End Personal 'Prying' |first=Peter |last=Baker |author2=John F. Harris |newspaper=] |date=August 18, 1998 |page=A1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004120050/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clinton081898.htm |archive-date=October 4, 2006 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> which he defended as truthful on August 17, 1998, because of his use of the present tense, arguing "it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/transcr.htm |title=Videotaped Testimony of William Jefferson Clinton Before the Grand Jury Empaneled for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr August 17, 1998 |last1=Hibbitts |first1=Bernard |date=September 21, 1998 |publisher=JURIST: The Law Professors' Network |access-date=January 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711175656/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/transcr.htm |archive-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> Starr obtained a blue dress from Lewinsky with Clinton's semen stained on it, as well as testimony from her that the President had inserted a cigar into her vagina. Clinton stated, "I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate",<ref name="wapo081898" /> but he denied committing perjury because, according to Clinton, the legal definition of oral sex was not encompassed by "sex" ''per se''.<ref name="sex-definition"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610093754/http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-clintonjonesperjury.html |date=June 10, 2011 }} by Steve Kangas. Retrieved February 12, 2006</ref> In addition, he relied on the definition of "sexual relations" as proposed by the prosecution and agreed by the defense and by Judge ], who was hearing the Paula Jones case. Clinton claimed that certain acts were performed ''on'' him, not ''by'' him, and therefore he did not engage in sexual relations. Lewinsky's testimony to the Starr Commission, however, contradicted Clinton's claim of being totally passive in their encounters.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bennet |first1=James |last2=Abramson |first2=Jill |title=The Testing of a President: The Overview; Lawyers Say Tape of Clinton Shows Regret and Anger |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/20/us/testing-president-overview-lawyers-say-tape-clinton-shows-regret-anger.html?pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 20, 1998 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306191013/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/20/us/testing-president-overview-lawyers-say-tape-clinton-shows-regret-anger.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> | |||
== Outcomes == | |||
President Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives and, after a 21-day trial, acquitted by the Senate on all charges brought there: allegations of perjury and ] regarding the affair and lying under oath in a civil lawsuit. The Senate vote fell short of the 2/3 majority required for conviction and removal from office under the Constitution. Polls of the American electorate taken at this time showed that up to 70% were against pursuing the allegations. (N Y Times December 21, 1998). | |||
Clinton and Lewinsky were both called before a grand jury. Clinton testified via closed-circuit television, while Lewinsky testified in person. She was granted ] by the Office of the Independent Counsel in exchange for her testimony.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/07/28/lewinsky/ |title=Lewinsky Strikes Far-Reaching Immunity Deal |last=Blitzer |first=Wolf |author2=Franken, Bob |date=July 28, 1998 |publisher=] |access-date=March 9, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121145022/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/07/28/lewinsky/ |archive-date=January 21, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> | |||
==Life after the scandal== | |||
Lewinsky's immunity agreement restricted what she could talk about publicly, but she was able to cooperate with ] in his writing of '']'', her biography which included her side of the Clinton affair.<ref name="cnn030899" /><ref name="nyt030599" /> The book was published in March 1999; it was also excerpted as a cover story in ].<ref name="cnn030899" /><ref name="nyt030599">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/28/daily/030599lewinsky-book-review.html |title='Monica's Story': Tawdry and Tiresome |author=Kakutani, Michiko |author-link=Michiko Kakutani |newspaper=] |date=March 5, 1999 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109113643/http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/28/daily/030599lewinsky-book-review.html |archive-date=January 9, 2017 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> On March 3, 1999, ] interviewed Lewinsky on ABC's '']''. The program was watched by 70 million Americans, which ABC said was a record for a news show.<ref name="cnn030899">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1999/03/08/makeover.html |title=Monica's makeover |author=Cloud, John |publisher=CNN |date=March 8, 1999 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831082058/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1999/03/08/makeover.html |archive-date=August 31, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Lewinsky made about $500,000 from her participation in the book and another $1 million from international rights to the Walters interview, but was still beset by high legal bills and living costs.<ref name="nymag-profile" /> | |||
In June 1999, ] published a series of articles by writer Susan Jane Gilman,<ref name="Ms1">{{cite news |url=http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-gilman.asp |title=Oral Report |last=Gilman |first=Susan Jane |date=June 1999 |work=] |access-date=July 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210003700/http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-gilman.asp |archive-date=February 10, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> sexologist ],<ref name="Ms2">{{cite news |url=http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-bright.asp |title=The Beauty and the Brains |last=Bright |first=Susie |date=June 1999 |work=] |access-date=July 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715141323/http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-bright.asp |archive-date=July 15, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> and author-host ]<ref name="Ms3">{{cite news |url=http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-abrams.asp |title=Dear Monica |last=Adams |first=Abiola Wendy |date=June 1999 |work=] |access-date=July 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806031850/http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-abrams.asp |archive-date=August 6, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> arguing from three generations of women whether Lewinsky's behavior had any meaning for feminism. Also in 1999, Lewinsky declined to sign an autograph in an airport, saying, "I'm kind of known for something that's not so great to be known for."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1999/02/07/monica-gains-respect-for-renouncing-fame/ |title=Monica Gains Respect For Renouncing Fame |author=Leonard Pitts |date=February 7, 1999 |newspaper=] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701020518/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1999-02-07/news/9902050766_1_jessica-hahn-fame-monica-lewinsky |archive-date=July 1, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> She made a cameo appearance as herself in two sketches during the May 8, 1999, episode of ]'s '']'', a program that had lampooned her relationship with Clinton over the prior 16 months. | |||
In September 1999, Lewinsky began to sell a line of handbags bearing her name,<ref name="vogue">{{cite news |url=http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/2004-05/040527-is-the-lewinsky-affair-over-.aspx |title=Is the Lewinsky Affair Over? |magazine=] |date=May 27, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515071129/http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/2004-05/040527-is-the-lewinsky-affair-over-.aspx |archive-date=May 15, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> under the company name The Real Monica, Inc.<ref name="nymag-profile">{{cite news |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/4481/ |title=Monica Takes Manhattan |author=Grigoriadis, Vanessa |magazine=] |date=March 19, 2001 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706183225/http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/4481/ |archive-date=July 6, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> They were sold online as well as at ] in New York, ] in California, and The Cross in London.<ref name="nymag-profile" /><ref name="vogue" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,616490,00.html |title=Monica: It's In the Bag |magazine=] |date=January 12, 1999 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606231829/http://www.people.com/people/article/0%2C%2C616490%2C00.html |archive-date=June 6, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Lewinsky designed the bags—described by '']'' magazine as "hippie-ish, reversible totes"—and traveled frequently to supervise their manufacture in ].<ref name="nymag-profile" /> | |||
At the start of 2000, Lewinsky began appearing in television commercials for the diet company ]<ref name="nyt122899">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/28/business/media-business-advertising-monica-lewinsky-meets-jenny-craig-spokeswoman-born.html |title=Monica Lewinsky Meets Jenny Craig, and a Spokeswoman Is Born |author=Hays, Constance L. |newspaper=] |date=December 28, 1999 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308114855/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/28/business/media-business-advertising-monica-lewinsky-meets-jenny-craig-spokeswoman-born.html |archive-date=March 8, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The $1 million endorsement deal, which required Lewinsky to lose 40 or more pounds in six months, gained considerable publicity at the time.<ref name="nymag-profile" /> Lewinsky said that despite her desire to return to a more private life, she needed the money to pay off legal fees, and she believed in the product.<ref name="bbc041300" /> A Jenny Craig spokesperson said of Lewinsky, "She represents a busy active woman of today with a hectic lifestyle. And she has had weight issues and weight struggles for a long time. That represents a lot of women in America."<ref name="nyt122899" /> The choice of Lewinsky as a role model proved controversial for Jenny Craig, and some of its private franchises switched to an older advertising campaign.<ref name="nymag-profile" /><ref name="bbc041300">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/711920.stm |title=Lewinsky trimmed from slimming ads |work=BBC News |date=April 13, 2000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122015835/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/711920.stm |archive-date=January 22, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The company stopped running the Lewinsky ads in February 2000, concluded her campaign entirely in April 2000, and paid her only $300,000 of the $1 million contracted for her involvement.<ref name="nymag-profile" /><ref name="bbc041300" /> | |||
Also at the start of 2000, Lewinsky moved to New York City, lived in the ], and became an ] guest in the ] social scene.<ref name="nymag-profile" /> In February 2000, she appeared on ]'s '']'', in an episode in which the host took her to his parents' home in ] in search of fabric for her new handbag business. Later in 2000, Lewinsky worked as a correspondent for ] in the UK, on the show ''Monica's Postcards'', reporting on U.S. culture and trends from a variety of locations.<ref name="nymag-profile" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/now-monica-shows-off-her-postcards-on-uk-tv-1.48592 |title=Now Monica shows off her 'Postcards' on UK TV |agency=]/] |publisher=] |date=September 24, 2000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917021754/http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/now-monica-shows-off-her-postcards-on-uk-tv-1.48592 |archive-date=September 17, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> | |||
In March 2002, Lewinsky, no longer bound by the terms of her immunity agreement,<ref name="nymag-profile" /> appeared in the ] special, "Monica in Black and White", part of the '']'' series.<ref name="nyt030302" /> In it she answered a studio audience's questions about her life and the Clinton affair.<ref name="nyt030302">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/03/arts/television-radio-telling-her-own-story-selling-her-new-self.html |title=Telling Her Own Story, Selling Her New Self |author=James, Caryn |newspaper=] |date=March 3, 2002 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816230849/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/03/arts/television-radio-telling-her-own-story-selling-her-new-self.html |archive-date=August 16, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> | |||
Lewinsky hosted a reality television dating program, '']'', on ] in 2003,<ref name="time-where">{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870544_1870543_1870550,00.html |title=Where Are They Now: The Clinton Impeachment: Monica Lewinsky |magazine=Time |date=January 9, 2009 |access-date=May 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617060523/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0%2C28804%2C1870544_1870543_1870550%2C00.html |archive-date=June 17, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> where she advised young women contestants who were picking men hidden by masks.<ref name="nyt032303">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/23/business/media-business-advertising-mr-personality-featuring-monica-lewinsky-draws-young.html |title='Mr. Personality,' featuring Monica Lewinsky, draws the young audience of advertisers' dreams |author=Carter, Bill |newspaper=] |date=April 23, 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307194210/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/23/business/media-business-advertising-mr-personality-featuring-monica-lewinsky-draws-young.html |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Some Americans tried to organize a boycott of advertisers on the show, to protest Lewinsky's capitalizing on her notoriety.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=] |page=C8 |title=People |date=April 27, 2003}}</ref> Nevertheless, the show debuted to very high ratings,<ref name="nyt032303" /> and Alessandra Stanley wrote in '']'': "after years of trying to cash in on her fame by designing handbags and other self-marketing schemes, Ms. Lewinsky has finally found a fitting niche on television."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/23/arts/the-tv-watch-the-name-of-the-game-is-class-guys-and-gals-or-the-lack-of-it.html |title=The Name of the Game Is Class, Guys and Gals, or the Lack of It |author=Stanley, Alessandra |author-link=Alessandra Stanley |newspaper=] |date=April 23, 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123201635/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/23/arts/the-tv-watch-the-name-of-the-game-is-class-guys-and-gals-or-the-lack-of-it.html |archive-date=November 23, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The same year she appeared as a guest on the programs '']''<ref>{{cite web |title=Episode #4.47 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0738471/ |website=IMDb |access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref> in the UK, '']''<ref>{{cite web |title="High Chaparall" Monica Lewinsky (TV Episode 2003) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0601047/ |website=IMDb |access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref> in Sweden, and '']''<ref>{{cite web |title=Episode dated 21 April 2003 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0740340/ |website=IMDb |access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref> and '']''<ref>{{cite web |title=Episode #1.84 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0615600/ |website=IMDb |access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref> in the U.S. | |||
After Clinton's autobiography, '']'', appeared in 2004, Lewinsky said in an interview with the British tabloid '']'':<ref name="USAT0625">{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2004-06-25-lewinsky-clinton_x.htm |title=Lewinsky: Clinton lies about relationship in his new book |date=June 25, 2006 |newspaper=] |agency=] |access-date=December 18, 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501061943/http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2004-06-25-lewinsky-clinton_x.htm |archive-date=May 1, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> | |||
{{Blockquote|text=He could have made it right with the book, but he hasn't. He is a revisionist of history. He has lied. ... I really didn't expect him to go into detail about our relationship. ... But if he had and he'd done it honestly, I wouldn't have minded. ... I did, though, at least expect him to correct the false statements he made when he was trying to protect the Presidency. Instead, he talked about it as though I had laid it all out there for the taking. I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert. ... This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. ... I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character.}} | |||
By 2005, Lewinsky found that she could not escape the spotlight in the U.S., which made both her professional and personal life difficult.<ref name="time-where" /> She stopped selling her handbag line<ref name="vogue" /> and moved to London to study ] at the ].<ref name="time-where" /> In December 2006, Lewinsky graduated with a ] degree.<ref name="LSEgrad">{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/monica-lewinsky-earns-masters-degree-in-london |title=Monica Lewinsky Earns Master's Degree in London |date=December 21, 2006 |publisher=Fox News |access-date=December 27, 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108173219/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C238021%2C00.html |archive-date=January 8, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/sep/07/highereducation.psychology |title=Lewinsky to study psychology at LSE |author=MacLeod, Donald |newspaper=] |date=September 7, 2005 |access-date=December 24, 2009 |location=London |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507020752/http://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/sep/07/highereducation.psychology |archive-date=May 7, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Her thesis was titled, "In Search of the Impartial Juror: An Exploration of the Third-Person Effect and Pre-Trial Publicity".<ref name="thesis">{{cite news| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/people-lewinsky-degree-dc/lewinsky-graduates-from-london-school-of-economics-idUSN2044156920061220|title=Lewinsky graduates from London School of Economics|date=January 7, 2007|work=]|access-date=January 19, 2018}}</ref> For the next decade, she tried to avoid publicity.<ref name="time-where" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/2013/07/23/the_monica_lewinsky_scandal_where_are_they_now/ |title=The Monica Lewinsky scandal: Where are they now? |author=Gupta, Prachi |magazine=] |date=July 23, 2013 |access-date=November 5, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923211310/http://www.salon.com/2013/07/23/the_monica_lewinsky_scandal_where_are_they_now/ |archive-date=September 23, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name="pol-purdum">{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/lewinskys-perspective-106421.html |title=Monica Lewinsky's hard-won perspective |first=Todd S. |last=Purdum |author-link=Todd Purdum |newspaper=] |date=May 10, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511000926/http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/lewinskys-perspective-106421.html |archive-date=May 11, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> | |||
Lewinsky did correspond in 2009 with scholar ], who was writing an in-depth study of the Clinton scandals. Lewinsky wrote to Gormley that Clinton had lied under oath when asked detailed and specific questions about his relationship with her.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30745.html |title=Monica's back – says Clinton lied |author=Gerstein, Josh |author2=Harris, John F. |newspaper=] |date=December 17, 2009 |access-date=December 24, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220235752/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30745.html |archive-date=December 20, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In 2013, the items associated with Lewinsky that Bleiler had turned over to Starr were put up for auction by Bleiler's ex-wife, who had come into possession of them.<ref name="time-items">{{cite news |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2013/06/25/monica-lewinsky-mementos-go-up-for-auction/ |title=Monica Lewinsky Mementos Go Up for Auction |first=Erica |last=Ho |magazine=] |date=June 25, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625221709/http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/06/25/monica-lewinsky-mementos-go-up-for-auction/ |archive-date=June 25, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> | |||
During her decade out of the public eye, Lewinsky lived in London, Los Angeles, New York, and Portland but, due to her notoriety, had trouble finding employment in the communications and marketing jobs for nonprofit organizations where she had been interviewed.<ref name="pol-purdum" /><ref name="ShameVF" /> | |||
==Public re-emergence== | |||
] Awards]] | |||
In May 2014, Lewinsky wrote an essay for '']'' magazine titled "Shame and Survival", wherein she discussed her life and the scandal.<ref name="ShameVF">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/style/society/2014/06/monica-lewinsky-humiliation-culture |title=Shame and Survival: Monica Lewinsky on the Culture of Humiliation |last=Lewinsky |first=Monica |date=June 2014 |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=July 1, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704062418/http://www.vanityfair.com/style/society/2014/06/monica-lewinsky-humiliation-culture |archive-date=July 4, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name="VFpreview">{{cite news |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/05/monica-lewinsky-speaks |title=Exclusive: Monica Lewinsky Writes About Her Affair with President Clinton |date=May 6, 2014 |magazine=] |access-date=May 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506233301/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/05/monica-lewinsky-speaks |archive-date=May 6, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> She continued to maintain that the relationship was mutual and wrote that while Clinton took advantage of her, it was a consensual relationship.<ref name="TheWeekpreview">{{cite web |url=https://theweek.com/article/index/261080/speedreads-monica-lewinsky-breaks-10-years-of-silence-on-affair-with-president-clinton |title=Monica Lewinsky breaks 10 years of silence on affair with President Clinton |last=Meslow |first=Scott |date=May 7, 2014 |magazine=] |access-date=May 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506230937/https://theweek.com/article/index/261080/speedreads-monica-lewinsky-breaks-10-years-of-silence-on-affair-with-president-clinton |archive-date=May 6, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> She added: "I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton. Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened."<ref name="pol-purdum" /> However, she said it was now time to "stick my head above the parapet so that I can take back my narrative and give a purpose to my past."<ref name="pol-purdum" /> The magazine later announced her as a ''Vanity Fair'' contributor, stating she would "contribute to their website on an ongoing basis, on the lookout for relevant topics of interest".<ref>{{cite web |title=Monica Lewinsky Is Writing For Vanity Fair Now |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/monica-lewinsky-becomes-vanity-fair-contributor-2014-7 |access-date=June 17, 2015 |website=Business Insider |date=July 31, 2014 |author=Julia Cannon |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617040749/http://www.businessinsider.com/monica-lewinsky-becomes-vanity-fair-contributor-2014-7 |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Monica Lewinsky to contribute to Vanity Fair on an 'ongoing basis' |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/monica-lewinsky-contribute-vanity-fair-ongoing-basis-article-1.1888461 |access-date=June 17, 2015 |newspaper=New York Daily News |date=August 1, 2014 |author=Beth Stebner |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617040706/http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/monica-lewinsky-contribute-vanity-fair-ongoing-basis-article-1.1888461 |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> | |||
In July 2014, Lewinsky was interviewed in a three-part television special for the ], titled ''The 90s: The Last Great Decade''. The series looked at various events of the 1990s, including the scandal that brought Lewinsky into the national spotlight. This was Lewinsky's first such interview in more than ten years.<ref name="NatGeo">{{cite news |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/07/monica-lewinsky-grants-first-tv-interview-in-years |title=Monica Lewinsky Grants First TV Interview in Years |last=Makarechi |first=Kia |date=July 1, 2014 |magazine=] |access-date=July 13, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712163717/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/07/monica-lewinsky-grants-first-tv-interview-in-years |archive-date=July 12, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> | |||
Paula Jones' civil lawsuit against President Clinton, the matter in which President Clinton originally provided testimony that gave rise to his impeachment, was ultimately dismissed. To end the appeal that followed, Paula Jones was paid $850,000 in an out of court settlement.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} President Clinton was held in contempt of court for lying under oath during a deposition. President Clinton was suspended from the practice of law by the State of Arkansas for five years. | |||
In October 2014, she took a public stand<ref>{{cite news|title=Monica Lewinsky to Bullying Victims: 'Please Don't Suffer in Silence'|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/monica-lewinsky-bullying-victims-dont-suffer-silence/story?id=34139687|publisher=ABC News|date=September 30, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126184414/https://abcnews.go.com/US/monica-lewinsky-bullying-victims-dont-suffer-silence/story?id=34139687|archive-date=January 26, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref> against ], calling herself "]" of online harassment.<ref name="cnn1014" /> Speaking at a '']'' magazine "30 Under 30" summit about her experiences in the aftermath of the scandal, she said, "Having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive, too."<ref name="cnn1014">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/politics/lewinsky-cyber-bullying/index.html |title=Lewinsky makes emotional plea to end cyberbullying |last=Merica |first=Dan |date=October 21, 2014 |publisher=] |access-date=October 22, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022080457/http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/politics/lewinsky-cyber-bullying/index.html |archive-date=October 22, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name="forbes1014"/> She said she was influenced by reading about the ], a ] freshman, involving cyberbullying<ref name="cnn1014"/> and joined ] to facilitate her efforts.<ref name="forbes1014">{{cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/10/20/monica-lewinsky-speaks-its-my-mission-to-end-cyberbullying/ |title=Monica Lewinsky Speaks: 'It's My Mission To End Cyberbullying' |last=O'Connor |first=Clare |date=October 20, 2014 |magazine=] |access-date=October 22, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021225914/http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/10/20/monica-lewinsky-speaks-its-my-mission-to-end-cyberbullying/ |archive-date=October 21, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref name="cnntwitter">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/politics/monica-lewinsky-twitter/ |title=Monica Lewinsky joins Twitter |last=Merica |first=Dan |date=October 20, 2014 |publisher=] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022101654/http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/politics/monica-lewinsky-twitter/ |archive-date=October 22, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In March 2015, Lewinsky continued to speak out publicly against cyberbullying,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/style/monica-lewinsky-is-back-but-this-time-its-on-her-terms.html |title=Monica Lewinsky Is Back, but This Time It's on Her Terms |last=Bennett |first=Jessica |date=March 19, 2015 |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 20, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319224903/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/style/monica-lewinsky-is-back-but-this-time-its-on-her-terms.html |archive-date=March 19, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> delivering a ] calling for a more compassionate Internet.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31976567 |title=Monica Lewinsky calls for a more compassionate internet |last=Wakefield |first=Jane |date=March 19, 2015 |work=] |access-date=March 19, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320081006/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31976567 |archive-date=March 20, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U |date=March 20, 2015 |title=Monica Lewinsky: The price of shame |access-date=March 21, 2015 |publisher=] via ] |first=Monica |last=Lewinsky |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150321194938/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U |archive-date=March 21, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In June 2015, she became an ambassador and strategic advisor for anti-bullying organization ].<ref>{{cite news |title=Monica Lewinsky joins anti-bullying group Bystander Revolution, says she wants to help 'other victims of the shame game' survive |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/monica-lewinsky-joins-antibullying-group-bystander-revolution-says-she-wants-to-help-other-victims-of-the-shame-game-survive-10308313.html |access-date=June 17, 2015 |newspaper=The Independent |date=June 9, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617062442/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/monica-lewinsky-joins-antibullying-group-bystander-revolution-says-she-wants-to-help-other-victims-of-the-shame-game-survive-10308313.html |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The same month, she gave an anti-cyberbullying speech at the ].<ref name="Alter_6/25/2015">{{cite magazine | last=Alter | first=Charlotte | title=Read Monica Lewinsky's Moving Speech on Cyberbullying | magazine=] | date=June 25, 2015 | url=https://time.com/3936957/monica-lewinsky-speech-cyberbullying/ | access-date=May 25, 2023}}</ref> In September 2015, Lewinsky was interviewed by ] on '']'', about Bystander Revolution's Month of Action campaign for National Bullying Prevention Month.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/monica-lewinsky-bullying-victims-suffer-silence-34145446|title=Monica Lewinsky Bystander Revolution interview|website=]|date=April 29, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705054130/https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/monica-lewinsky-bullying-victims-suffer-silence-34145446|archive-date=July 5, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Lewinsky wrote the foreword<ref>{{cite web|url=http://people.com/politics/monica-lewinsky-debuts-anti-cyberbullying-video/|title=Monica Lewinsky Shares New Video to Combat Cyberbullying|last=McNeill|first=Liz|date=October 9, 2017|work=]|access-date=October 29, 2017}}</ref> to an October 2017 book by Sue Scheff and Melissa Schorr, ''Shame Nation: The Global Epidemic of Online Hate''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/monica-lewinsky-stepping-up-speaking-out_us_59db722fe4b0cf2548b338f2|title=Monica Lewinsky: Stepping Up, Speaking Out|last=Scheff|first=Sue|date=October 9, 2017|work=]|access-date=October 21, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Scheff|first1=Sue|last2=Schorr|first2=Melissa|title=Shame Nation: The Global Epidemic of Online Hate|date=October 3, 2017|publisher=Sourcebooks|isbn=978-1492648994}}</ref> | |||
In the scandal's immediate aftermath Congress chose not to extend the legislation that empowered the driving force behind the investigation of the Lewinsky matter, the office of Independent Counsel.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} | |||
In October 2017, Lewinsky tweeted the ] to indicate that she was a victim of sexual harassment or sexual assault, but did not provide details.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/monica-lewinsky-tweets-metoo|agency=]|date=October 18, 2017|title=Monica Lewinsky tweets '#MeToo'}}</ref> She wrote an essay in the March 2018 issue of ''Vanity Fair'' in which she did not directly explain why she used the #MeToo hashtag in October. She did write that looking back at her relationship with Bill Clinton, although it was consensual, because he was 27 years older than she and in a position with a lot more power than she had, in her opinion the relationship constituted an "abuse of power" on Clinton's part. She added that she had been diagnosed with ] due to what she had experienced after the relationship was disclosed.<ref name="vanityfairemergingfrom">{{cite news|last1=Lewinsky|first1=Monica|title=Emerging from "The House of Gaslight" in the age of #MeToo|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/monica-lewinsky-in-the-age-of-metoo|access-date=February 26, 2018|work=]|date=March 2018|quote=To be blunt, I was diagnosed several years ago with post-traumatic stress disorder, mainly from the ordeal of having been publicly outed and ostracized back then.}}</ref> In May 2018, Lewinsky was disinvited from an event hosted by '']'' when Bill Clinton accepted an invitation to the event.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Peck |first1=Emily |first2=Maxwell |last2=Strachan |date=9 May 2018 |title=Town & Country Magazine Uninvited Monica Lewinsky From An Event Because Of Bill Clinton |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/monica-lewinsky-town-country-bill-clinton_us_5af34667e4b04d3b2c901b74 |work=Huffington Post |access-date=9 May 2018 }}</ref> | |||
== After the scandal== | |||
The affair led to a period of ] celebrity for Lewinsky as a younger-generation focus of a political storm. Around early 1999, Lewinsky reportedly said "I'm well-known for something that isn't great to be well-known for."<ref>'']'' published a series of articles by writer ], sexologist ], and author-host ] arguing from three generations of women whether Monica Lewinsky's behavior had any meaning for feminism. </ref><ref> by Leonard Pitts, April 20, 2000. ''Miami Herald.'' Accessed December 18, 2006.</ref> | |||
In September 2018, Lewinsky spoke at a conference in ]. Following her speech, she sat for a Q&A session with the host, journalist ]. The first question Levi asked was whether Lewinsky thinks that Clinton owes her a private apology. Lewinsky refused to answer the question, and walked off the stage. She later tweeted that the question was posed in a pre-event meeting with Levi, and Lewinsky told her that such a question was off limits. A spokesman for the ], which hosted the conference and is Levi's employer, responded that Levi had kept all the agreements she made with Lewinsky and honored her requests.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/09/04/monica-lewinsky-walks-off-stage-jerusalem-conference-when-asked-about-bill-clinton/|newspaper=]|title= Monica Lewinsky walks off the stage at a Jerusalem conference when asked about Bill Clinton|date=September 4, 2018|first=Ruth| last=Eglash}}</ref> | |||
By her own account, Lewinsky survived the intense media attention by ]; soon after the scandal she started a business selling her own brand of ]s online, but she closed it in ]. In 2000 she appeared on '']'' in which the host took her to his parents' home in ] in search of fabric for her new business. Lewinsky made a cameo appearance as herself in two sketches during the ] ] episode of ]'s '']'', a program that had lampooned her relationship with Clinton over the prior sixteen months. She was also the host of the short-lived ] dating program called '']'' in ]. | |||
In 2019, she was interviewed by ] on his HBO show '']'', where they discussed the importance of solving the problem of ] and how her situation may have been different if social media had existed at the time that ] broke in the late 1990s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2019/03/john-oliver-blasts-jay-lenos-scolding-of-late-night-tv-for-lack-of-civility-1202577196/|title=John Oliver Blasts Jay Leno's Scolding Of Late-Night TV For Lack Of "Civility"|first1=Lisa |last1=de Moraes|date=March 18, 2019}}</ref> More recently, she started Alt Ending Productions with a first look deal at 20th Television.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Baysinger|first=Tim|date=2021-06-14|title=Monica Lewinsky Signs First-Look Deal With 20th TV|url=https://www.thewrap.com/monica-lewinsky-signs-first-look-deal-with-20th-tv/|access-date=2021-06-15|website=TheWrap|language=en-US}}</ref> | |||
After Clinton's autobiography '']'' appeared in 2004, Lewinsky said in an interview with the British tabloid '']'': | |||
<blockquote>He could have made it right with the book, but he hasn't. He is a revisionist of history. He has lied. (...) I really didn't expect him to go into detail about our relationship (...) But if he had and he'd done it honestly, I wouldn't have minded.... I did, though, at least expect him to correct the false statements he made when he was trying to protect the Presidency. Instead, he talked about it as though I had laid it all out there for the taking. I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert. (...) This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. ... I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character.<ref name="USAT0625"> ], June 25, 2006. ''USA Today''. Accessed December 18, 2006.</ref></blockquote> | |||
On August 6, 2019, it was announced that the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal would be the focus of the third season of the television series '']'' with the title ]. The season began production in October 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.techradar247.com/2020/10/26/american-crime-story-season-3-production-starts-change-in-plans-more-details-to-know/ |title=American Crime Story Season 3: Production Starts! Change in Plans & More Details to Know |date=October 26, 2020 |access-date=October 26, 2020 |archive-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114232151/https://www.techradar247.com/2020/10/26/american-crime-story-season-3-production-starts-change-in-plans-more-details-to-know/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Lewinsky was a co-producer.<ref name="impeachment">{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/monica-lewinsky-produced-impeachment-set-as-next-american-crime-story-at-fx-1229819|title=Monica Lewinsky-Produced 'Impeachment' Set as Next 'American Crime Story' at FX|last=Goldberg|first=Lesley|newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter|date=August 6, 2019|archive-date=October 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022230642/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/monica-lewinsky-produced-impeachment-set-as-next-american-crime-story-at-fx-1229819|url-status=live}}</ref> It consists of 10 episodes and premiered on September 7, 2021.<ref name="impeachment"/> The season portrays the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal and is based on the book ''A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President'' by ]. The 28-year-old actress ] plays Monica Lewinsky. In discussing the series and her observations on social media and cancel culture today in an interview with ] for the New York Times Opinion podcast ''Sway'',<ref>{{cite podcast |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-monica-lewinsky.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-monica-lewinsky.html |archive-date=2021-12-28 |url-access=limited |title=Monica Lewinsky has some things to say about cancel culture |website=nytimes.com |publisher=] |host= Kara Swisher|date=October 4, 2021 |time= |access-date=October 5, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Lewinsky noted that: {{quote|I think that the first thing that went out the door in 1998 was the truth, and the second was context. And there’s no nuance. And we were all women who were thrust into the spotlight underneath a political film or sheen. And we were all reduced. We were all reduced in different ways to serve purposes for other people, for either political points or to make money.}} In October 2021 she executively produced an HBO documentary ''15 Minutes of Shame'', directed by ], which focused on public shaming, ], and ].<ref name="j683">{{cite web | last=Loofbourow | first=Lili | title=What Monica Lewinsky's New Documentary on Public Shaming Gets Wrong | website=Slate Magazine | date=2021-10-20 | url=https://slate.com/culture/2021/10/15-minutes-of-shame-monica-lewinsky-documentary.html | access-date=2024-11-07}}</ref><ref name="j846">{{cite web | last=Lowry | first=Brian | title='15 Minutes of Shame' looks at public shaming with 'patient zero' Monica Lewinsky | website=CNN | date=2021-10-07 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/07/entertainment/15-minutes-of-shame-review/index.html | access-date=2024-11-07}}</ref> | |||
In December 2006, Lewinsky graduated with a ] in ] from the ]<ref name="LSEgrad"> December 21, 2006. Accessed December 27, 2006</ref> where she had been studying since September 2005.<ref name="LSE"> September 8, 2005. London School of Economics. Accessed December 27, 2006</ref> Her dissertation was titled “In Search of the Impartial Juror: An exploration of the third person effect and pre-trial publicity.” On the whole, Lewinsky has been reported to find difficulty with moving on with her life.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDVPq1mYqwI</ref> | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{ |
{{reflist|30em}} | ||
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
* ], and Duggan, Lisa. ''Our Monica, Ourselves: The Clinton Affair and the Public Interest''. Sexual Cultures. New York: New York University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0814798645}}. | |||
*]: '']'': an authorized biography/interview. ], March 1999; ISBN 0-312-24091-0, mass-market paperback ISBN 0-312-97362-4 | |||
*''One Scandalous Story: Clinton, Lewinsky, and Thirteen Days That Tarnished American Journalism'' |
* Kalb, Marvin. ''One Scandalous Story: Clinton, Lewinsky, and Thirteen Days That Tarnished American Journalism''. New York: Free Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-1416576372}}. | ||
* {{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/opinion/monica-lewinsky-roger-ailess-dream-was-my-nightmare.html |title=Roger Ailes's Dream Was My Nightmare |last=Lewinsky |first=Monica |date=May 22, 2017 |website=The New York Times}} | |||
*''Our Monica, Ourselves: The Clinton Affair and the Public Interest (Sexual Cultures)'' by ] and Lisa Duggan | |||
== |
==External links== | ||
{{Commons}} | |||
* | |||
* {{IMDb name|0506861}} | |||
* in the ] (], ]) | |||
* {{TED speaker}} | |||
* from Washington Post | |||
* {{C-SPAN|56617}} | |||
* | |||
*{{imdb name | id = 0506861 | name = Monica Lewinsky }} | |||
{{Impeachment and impeachment trial of Bill Clinton}} | |||
{{Authority control}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 01:36, 18 December 2024
American activist and writer (born 1973) "Lewinsky" redirects here. For the surname, see Lewinsky (surname).
Monica Lewinsky | |
---|---|
Lewinsky speaking at TED 2015 | |
Born | Monica Samille Lewinsky (1973-07-23) July 23, 1973 (age 51) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Education | Santa Monica College Lewis and Clark College (BS) London School of Economics (MSc) |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1995–2005; 2014–present |
Employer(s) | White House Office of Legislative Affairs The Pentagon |
Known for | Clinton–Lewinsky scandal |
Parent(s) | Bernard Lewinsky Marcia Lewis |
Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist. Lewinsky became internationally known in the late 1990s after U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an affair with her during her days as a White House intern between 1995 and 1997. The affair and its repercussions (which included Clinton's impeachment) became known as the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal.
Following the scandal, Lewinsky engaged in a variety of ventures that included designing a line of handbags under her name, serving as an advertising spokesperson for a diet plan, and working as a television personality. She obtained a master's degree in psychology from the London School of Economics in 2006. In 2014, Lewinsky began speaking out as an activist against cyberbullying.
Early life
Lewinsky was born in San Francisco, California, and grew up in an affluent family in Southern California in the Westside Brentwood area of Los Angeles and later in Beverly Hills. Her father is Bernard Lewinsky, an oncologist, who is the son of German Jews who emigrated from Germany in the 1920s, first moving to El Salvador and then finally to the United States when he was 14. Her mother, born Marcia Kay Vilensky, is an author who uses the name Marcia Lewis. In 1996, she wrote a "gossip biography", The Private Lives of the Three Tenors. Lewinsky’s maternal grandfather, Samuel M. Vilensky, was a Lithuanian Jew, and her maternal grandmother, Bronia Poleshuk, was born in the British Concession of Tianjin, China, to a Russian Jewish family. Lewinsky’s parents divorced in 1988 and each has remarried.
The family attended Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and Lewinsky attended Sinai Akiba Academy, the school affiliated with the Temple. For her primary education, she attended the John Thomas Dye School in Bel-Air. Lewinsky attended Beverly Hills High School for three years before transferring to Bel Air Prep (later known as Pacific High School), graduating in 1991.
Following her high school graduation, Lewinsky attended Santa Monica College while working for the drama department at Beverly Hills High School and at a tie shop. In 1992, she began a five-year affair with Andy Bleiler, her married former high school drama instructor. In 1993, she enrolled at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1995. In an appearance on Larry King Live in 2000, she revealed that she started an affair with a 40-year-old married man in Los Angeles when she was 18 years old, and that the affair continued while she was attending Lewis & Clark College in the early 1990s; she did not disclose the man's identity.
With the assistance of a family connection, Lewinsky secured an unpaid summer White House internship in the office of White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. Lewinsky moved to Washington, D.C. and took up the position in July 1995. She moved to a paid posting in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs in December 1995.
Scandal
Main article: Clinton–Lewinsky scandalLewinsky stated that she had nine sexual encounters with President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office between November 1995 and March 1997. According to her testimony, these encounters involved oral sex and other sexual acts, but not sexual intercourse.
Clinton had previously been confronted with allegations of sexual misconduct during his time as Governor of Arkansas. Former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones filed a civil lawsuit against him alleging that he had sexually harassed her. Lewinsky's name surfaced during the discovery phase of Jones' case, when Jones' lawyers sought to show a pattern of behavior by Clinton which involved inappropriate sexual relationships with other government employees.
In April 1996, Lewinsky's superiors transferred her from the White House to the Pentagon because they felt that she was spending too much time with Clinton. At the Pentagon, she worked as an assistant to chief Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon. In September 1997, after Lewinsky told co-worker Linda Tripp about her relationship with Clinton, Tripp began to secretly record their telephone conversations. Lewinsky left her position at the Pentagon in December 1997, and in January 1998 submitted an affidavit in the Paula Jones case denying any physical relationship with Clinton. Though she attempted to persuade Tripp to lie under oath in that case, Tripp gave the tapes to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, adding to his ongoing investigation into the Whitewater controversy. Starr then broadened his investigation beyond the Arkansas land use deal to include Lewinsky, Clinton, and others for possible perjury and subornation of perjury in the Jones case. Tripp reported the taped conversations to literary agent Lucianne Goldberg. She also convinced Lewinsky to save the gifts that Clinton had given her during their relationship and not to dry clean a blue dress that was stained with Clinton's semen. Under oath, Clinton denied having had "a sexual affair", "sexual relations", or "a sexual relationship" with Lewinsky.
News of the Clinton–Lewinsky relationship broke in January 1998. On January 26, 1998, Clinton stated, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" in a nationally televised White House news conference. The matter instantly occupied the news media, and Lewinsky spent the next weeks hiding from public attention in her mother's residence at the Watergate complex. News of Lewinsky's affair with Andy Bleiler, her former high school drama instructor, also came to light, and he turned over to Starr various souvenirs, photographs, and documents that Lewinsky had sent him and his wife during the time that she was in the White House.
Clinton had also said, "There is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship" which he defended as truthful on August 17, 1998, because of his use of the present tense, arguing "it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is". Starr obtained a blue dress from Lewinsky with Clinton's semen stained on it, as well as testimony from her that the President had inserted a cigar into her vagina. Clinton stated, "I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate", but he denied committing perjury because, according to Clinton, the legal definition of oral sex was not encompassed by "sex" per se. In addition, he relied on the definition of "sexual relations" as proposed by the prosecution and agreed by the defense and by Judge Susan Webber Wright, who was hearing the Paula Jones case. Clinton claimed that certain acts were performed on him, not by him, and therefore he did not engage in sexual relations. Lewinsky's testimony to the Starr Commission, however, contradicted Clinton's claim of being totally passive in their encounters.
Clinton and Lewinsky were both called before a grand jury. Clinton testified via closed-circuit television, while Lewinsky testified in person. She was granted transactional immunity by the Office of the Independent Counsel in exchange for her testimony.
Life after the scandal
Lewinsky's immunity agreement restricted what she could talk about publicly, but she was able to cooperate with Andrew Morton in his writing of Monica's Story, her biography which included her side of the Clinton affair. The book was published in March 1999; it was also excerpted as a cover story in Time magazine. On March 3, 1999, Barbara Walters interviewed Lewinsky on ABC's 20/20. The program was watched by 70 million Americans, which ABC said was a record for a news show. Lewinsky made about $500,000 from her participation in the book and another $1 million from international rights to the Walters interview, but was still beset by high legal bills and living costs.
In June 1999, Ms. magazine published a series of articles by writer Susan Jane Gilman, sexologist Susie Bright, and author-host Abiola Abrams arguing from three generations of women whether Lewinsky's behavior had any meaning for feminism. Also in 1999, Lewinsky declined to sign an autograph in an airport, saying, "I'm kind of known for something that's not so great to be known for." She made a cameo appearance as herself in two sketches during the May 8, 1999, episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live, a program that had lampooned her relationship with Clinton over the prior 16 months.
In September 1999, Lewinsky began to sell a line of handbags bearing her name, under the company name The Real Monica, Inc. They were sold online as well as at Henri Bendel in New York, Fred Segal in California, and The Cross in London. Lewinsky designed the bags—described by New York magazine as "hippie-ish, reversible totes"—and traveled frequently to supervise their manufacture in Louisiana.
At the start of 2000, Lewinsky began appearing in television commercials for the diet company Jenny Craig, Inc. The $1 million endorsement deal, which required Lewinsky to lose 40 or more pounds in six months, gained considerable publicity at the time. Lewinsky said that despite her desire to return to a more private life, she needed the money to pay off legal fees, and she believed in the product. A Jenny Craig spokesperson said of Lewinsky, "She represents a busy active woman of today with a hectic lifestyle. And she has had weight issues and weight struggles for a long time. That represents a lot of women in America." The choice of Lewinsky as a role model proved controversial for Jenny Craig, and some of its private franchises switched to an older advertising campaign. The company stopped running the Lewinsky ads in February 2000, concluded her campaign entirely in April 2000, and paid her only $300,000 of the $1 million contracted for her involvement.
Also at the start of 2000, Lewinsky moved to New York City, lived in the West Village, and became an A-list guest in the Manhattan social scene. In February 2000, she appeared on MTV's The Tom Green Show, in an episode in which the host took her to his parents' home in Ottawa in search of fabric for her new handbag business. Later in 2000, Lewinsky worked as a correspondent for Channel 5 in the UK, on the show Monica's Postcards, reporting on U.S. culture and trends from a variety of locations.
In March 2002, Lewinsky, no longer bound by the terms of her immunity agreement, appeared in the HBO special, "Monica in Black and White", part of the America Undercover series. In it she answered a studio audience's questions about her life and the Clinton affair.
Lewinsky hosted a reality television dating program, Mr. Personality, on Fox Television Network in 2003, where she advised young women contestants who were picking men hidden by masks. Some Americans tried to organize a boycott of advertisers on the show, to protest Lewinsky's capitalizing on her notoriety. Nevertheless, the show debuted to very high ratings, and Alessandra Stanley wrote in The New York Times: "after years of trying to cash in on her fame by designing handbags and other self-marketing schemes, Ms. Lewinsky has finally found a fitting niche on television." The same year she appeared as a guest on the programs V Graham Norton in the UK, High Chaparall in Sweden, and The View and Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the U.S.
After Clinton's autobiography, My Life, appeared in 2004, Lewinsky said in an interview with the British tabloid Daily Mail:
He could have made it right with the book, but he hasn't. He is a revisionist of history. He has lied. ... I really didn't expect him to go into detail about our relationship. ... But if he had and he'd done it honestly, I wouldn't have minded. ... I did, though, at least expect him to correct the false statements he made when he was trying to protect the Presidency. Instead, he talked about it as though I had laid it all out there for the taking. I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert. ... This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. ... I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character.
By 2005, Lewinsky found that she could not escape the spotlight in the U.S., which made both her professional and personal life difficult. She stopped selling her handbag line and moved to London to study social psychology at the London School of Economics. In December 2006, Lewinsky graduated with a Master of Science degree. Her thesis was titled, "In Search of the Impartial Juror: An Exploration of the Third-Person Effect and Pre-Trial Publicity". For the next decade, she tried to avoid publicity.
Lewinsky did correspond in 2009 with scholar Ken Gormley, who was writing an in-depth study of the Clinton scandals. Lewinsky wrote to Gormley that Clinton had lied under oath when asked detailed and specific questions about his relationship with her. In 2013, the items associated with Lewinsky that Bleiler had turned over to Starr were put up for auction by Bleiler's ex-wife, who had come into possession of them.
During her decade out of the public eye, Lewinsky lived in London, Los Angeles, New York, and Portland but, due to her notoriety, had trouble finding employment in the communications and marketing jobs for nonprofit organizations where she had been interviewed.
Public re-emergence
In May 2014, Lewinsky wrote an essay for Vanity Fair magazine titled "Shame and Survival", wherein she discussed her life and the scandal. She continued to maintain that the relationship was mutual and wrote that while Clinton took advantage of her, it was a consensual relationship. She added: "I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton. Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened." However, she said it was now time to "stick my head above the parapet so that I can take back my narrative and give a purpose to my past." The magazine later announced her as a Vanity Fair contributor, stating she would "contribute to their website on an ongoing basis, on the lookout for relevant topics of interest".
In July 2014, Lewinsky was interviewed in a three-part television special for the National Geographic Channel, titled The 90s: The Last Great Decade. The series looked at various events of the 1990s, including the scandal that brought Lewinsky into the national spotlight. This was Lewinsky's first such interview in more than ten years.
In October 2014, she took a public stand against cyberbullying, calling herself "patient zero" of online harassment. Speaking at a Forbes magazine "30 Under 30" summit about her experiences in the aftermath of the scandal, she said, "Having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive, too." She said she was influenced by reading about the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University freshman, involving cyberbullying and joined Twitter to facilitate her efforts. In March 2015, Lewinsky continued to speak out publicly against cyberbullying, delivering a TED talk calling for a more compassionate Internet. In June 2015, she became an ambassador and strategic advisor for anti-bullying organization Bystander Revolution. The same month, she gave an anti-cyberbullying speech at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In September 2015, Lewinsky was interviewed by Amy Robach on Good Morning America, about Bystander Revolution's Month of Action campaign for National Bullying Prevention Month. Lewinsky wrote the foreword to an October 2017 book by Sue Scheff and Melissa Schorr, Shame Nation: The Global Epidemic of Online Hate.
In October 2017, Lewinsky tweeted the #MeToo hashtag to indicate that she was a victim of sexual harassment or sexual assault, but did not provide details. She wrote an essay in the March 2018 issue of Vanity Fair in which she did not directly explain why she used the #MeToo hashtag in October. She did write that looking back at her relationship with Bill Clinton, although it was consensual, because he was 27 years older than she and in a position with a lot more power than she had, in her opinion the relationship constituted an "abuse of power" on Clinton's part. She added that she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder due to what she had experienced after the relationship was disclosed. In May 2018, Lewinsky was disinvited from an event hosted by Town & Country when Bill Clinton accepted an invitation to the event.
In September 2018, Lewinsky spoke at a conference in Jerusalem. Following her speech, she sat for a Q&A session with the host, journalist Yonit Levi. The first question Levi asked was whether Lewinsky thinks that Clinton owes her a private apology. Lewinsky refused to answer the question, and walked off the stage. She later tweeted that the question was posed in a pre-event meeting with Levi, and Lewinsky told her that such a question was off limits. A spokesman for the Israel Television News Company, which hosted the conference and is Levi's employer, responded that Levi had kept all the agreements she made with Lewinsky and honored her requests.
In 2019, she was interviewed by John Oliver on his HBO show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, where they discussed the importance of solving the problem of public shaming and how her situation may have been different if social media had existed at the time that the scandal broke in the late 1990s. More recently, she started Alt Ending Productions with a first look deal at 20th Television.
On August 6, 2019, it was announced that the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal would be the focus of the third season of the television series American Crime Story with the title Impeachment. The season began production in October 2020. Lewinsky was a co-producer. It consists of 10 episodes and premiered on September 7, 2021. The season portrays the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal and is based on the book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President by Jeffrey Toobin. The 28-year-old actress Beanie Feldstein plays Monica Lewinsky. In discussing the series and her observations on social media and cancel culture today in an interview with Kara Swisher for the New York Times Opinion podcast Sway, Lewinsky noted that:
I think that the first thing that went out the door in 1998 was the truth, and the second was context. And there’s no nuance. And we were all women who were thrust into the spotlight underneath a political film or sheen. And we were all reduced. We were all reduced in different ways to serve purposes for other people, for either political points or to make money.
In October 2021 she executively produced an HBO documentary 15 Minutes of Shame, directed by Max Joseph, which focused on public shaming, online shaming, and ostracism.
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To be blunt, I was diagnosed several years ago with post-traumatic stress disorder, mainly from the ordeal of having been publicly outed and ostracized back then.
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Further reading
- Berlant, Lauren, and Duggan, Lisa. Our Monica, Ourselves: The Clinton Affair and the Public Interest. Sexual Cultures. New York: New York University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0814798645.
- Kalb, Marvin. One Scandalous Story: Clinton, Lewinsky, and Thirteen Days That Tarnished American Journalism. New York: Free Press, 2001. ISBN 978-1416576372.
- Lewinsky, Monica (May 22, 2017). "Roger Ailes's Dream Was My Nightmare". The New York Times.
External links
- Monica Lewinsky at IMDb
- Monica Lewinsky at TED
- Appearances on C-SPAN
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