Back in May of this year, Vanity Fair sat down with Monica Lewinsky in what turned out to be a major exclusive. Monica was/is trying to rebrand herself, 16 years after her affair with then-president Bill Clinton. I covered parts of her Vanity Fair interview here and here. As I said at the time, I feel sorry for Monica, still, to this day. She made some mistakes when she was in her early 20s and she was treated miserably by Ken Starr, by the Clintons, by the press and by everyone else. Besides, it was President Clinton who was married. He was the one who broke his vows and then lied about it under oath (not that he should have been impeached over it, but Bubba was definitely the “grossest” one in this situation). Anyway, as Monica tries to rebrand herself, she’s trying to become a spokesperson for some kind of anti-online bullying campaign.
#HereWeGo, alright! Monica Lewinsky recalled her historic ’90s affair with former President Bill Clinton during a speech on Monday, Oct. 20, revealing that she was once in love with him. The former White House intern, 41, kicked off her first-ever public address by bringing up her story. “I fell in love with my boss,” she said during Forbes’ inaugural 30 under 30 Summit in Philadelphia. “Only, my boss was the President of the United States.”
The theme in Lewinsky’s speech, however, was about launching a “cultural revolution” against Internet shaming, which she experienced first-hand in the ’90s following the news of her presidential affair.
“I was Patient Zero,” Lewinsky said, according to the magazine. “The first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the Internet. There was no Facebook, Twitter or Instagram back then, but there were gossip, news and entertainment websites replete with comment sections and emails which could be forwarded. Of course, it was all done on the excruciatingly slow dial up. Yet around the world this story went. A viral phenomenon that, you could argue, was the first moment of truly ‘social media.'”
According to Forbes, which recapped the presentation, Lewinsky got emotional while discussing her life in the wake of the political scandal. “Staring at the computer screen, I spent the day shouting, ‘Oh my God!’ and ‘I can’t believe they put that in. That’s so out of context,'” she said of the infamous Starr Report, which was released online in 1998. “And those were the only thoughts that interrupted a relentless mantra in my head: ‘I want to die.'”
Lewinsky, as she first wrote in an essay for the June 2014 issue of Vanity Fair, explained that the tragic death of Tyler Clementi was what moved her to break her silence. (Clementi, a gay Rutgers University student, committed suicide in 2010 after being publicly humiliated by classmates on the Internet.) “The tragedy is one of the principal reasons I am standing up here today,” Lewinsky said Monday. “While it touched us both, my mother was unusually upset by the story, and I wondered why. Eventually it dawned on me: She was back in 1998, but to a time when I was periodically suicidal; when she might very easily have lost me; when I, too, might have been humiliated to death.”
After his death, Lewinsky met with Clementi’s parents. Lewinsky said she wanted to use her past and experiences to help other victims — especially youth — who have been exposed to cyberbullying and harassment. “Having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive too,” Lewinsky continued in her speech. “I want to put my suffering to good use and give purpose to my past.”
Monica has also joined Twitter – go here to see her brand new Twitter feed. My take: good on Monica for talking about this kind of thing, and online bullying, harassment and stalking are issues that need to be addressed more comprehensively these days. Monica might have been “Patient Zero” but these days, it’s about #YesAllWomen, Anita Sakeesian and Zoe Quinn (two of the biggest victims of this #GamerGate fiasco). There is a need to discuss how women are targeted online and if Monica wants to take this up, she should. Plus, I just like the fact that Monica isn’t in hiding these days. I’m sure the media will link Monica to Hillary Clinton’s possible/probable 2016 presidential run, but what is Monica supposed to do? Just curl up in a ball and wait out yet another campaign cycle?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
Frankly.. i feel for her past but i fail utterly to understand why is she giving these s-l-o-w-l-y spoken full of head bobbing weirdly rambly speeches trying to hitch her wagon to weirly disparate people like Tyler Clementi and Jennifer Lawrence… No she doesnt have to “hide” but what is this?? For why?
Exactly.
I agree, QQ. Monica was young and she made a mistake, and I do think she was punished far more for her part in it that BC himself, who should shoulder the majority of the responsibility. He betrayed and humiliated his wife, embarrassed his daughter and put the country in an uproar. But Monica has squeezed this lemon dry. She wants to be famous. She has tried to capitalize on her behavior for years. When I saw her picture, I actually thought “oh yeah, I’d forgotten about her.” She’s the one dredging it all back up, and I don’t for one minute think it has anything to do with concern for on-line harassment. As for Hillary, I can’t stand her, and I will poke my eyes out if she’s our next president, but yes, I think Monica has done enough, and the timing of this is really suspect. It seems callous and intentional.
I remember when she put out a handbag line. I thought that was strange, but she had said that she was having trouble finding work. Then she was working on a few bizarre things with Howard Stern. It was all a bit weird, but I just attributed it to her trying to find her way.
During that period, please don’t forget BC started the War in Kosovo so he could take atention of him. By doing that he got his house in Chappaua as a parting gift from A labbyist and some money in the bank for rainy days. And for Monica, I am glade she is not hiding, she never had a reason to hide…really.
I don’t think she needs to hide and I agree that she was treated beyond horribly. It was atrocious. However, I never found her particularly likeable and still don’t. I have no reason for that. I also think she is choosing to put herself in the spotlight because she wants to be famous rather than infamous. I think by this point she could have gone and lived a quiet life, been reasonably successful and moved on. This interview seems like she just wants to be famous.
I agree with every word of yr post, GNAT, including yr thoughts about Hillary. She is the female Dick Nixon, IMO, vengeful, paranoid, sneaky, and not on speaking terms with the truth. Nixon’s Enemies List would shrivel beside Hillary’s, I’m certain. Omg, I’m dying for a female prez, but we don’t want our first time out to be in the person of such a flawed, angry human being, capable of all sorts of behind-the-scenes intrigue.
I’m a Dem, but I can’t stand the thought of Hillary as our President. I’d take Elizabeth Warren over Hill any old day.
She’s probably doing it because she wants to be heard about how terribly she was treated.
Now people will have a context to understand what she went through. She was vilified – it was horrible. And by helping others she can build a better public reputation which I’m sure she has craved all these years. I don’t know that this helps anyone but her but she still deserves justice for herself. It was sexism at its worst and her life was basically ruined.
You know they locked her in a hotel room for several days, questioning her, and told her she would go to jail if she didn’t them the sordid details of the affair. That’s how this whole thing started. She was so young she believed them. She asked to speak to her parents and they wouldn’t let her. She tried to escape through the hotel bathroom window. Linda Tripp set the hotel room up. It’s astounding when you know how she was treated.
Interesting.
The whole thing started when her supposed BFF recorded her conversations and turned them over to partisan thugs.
I was surprised to learn about the way she was treated as well. It was insane.
Then people criticized her looks, her weight. Everything. So young to be put in the public light like that.
And yes, she was the other woman, I get it. I still don’t think she deserves the hate she gets.
I’m still horrified at what happened to Monica. Keeping her in the hotel room whilst threatening her for days, refusing to let her call anyone, her parents frantic with worry. The ONLY thing that saved her was the fact that her parents were wealthy and they had insider connections. If she had been perceived as disposable as the other ‘bimbo explosions (Thanks Hilary for such a great expression /sarcarsm/), a lot worse would or could have happened to her.
And Linda Tripp deserves every single bad thing that finds her. In this life and the next.
Yeah, if you ask me Linda Tripp was one of the worst villians in all this. Just reprehensible.
I am amazed no one has put this onto a decent screenplay and film yet. David Fincher – where are you.
I agree. She was young and naive. Yes she made bad choices and hurt people but I think she was taken advantage of by basically everyone.
And that hate she got was insane. I was a young girl when this went down and I can remember seeing her picture everywhere. I cannot imagine how difficult her life has been in the wake of the scandal.
And Linda Trip was beyond horrible to exploit her like that.
When John Goodman did Linda Tripp on SNL, it was hysterical. As bad as the mess was for the country, it was comedy gold.
Personally, I disagree with the comment that Clinton went to war in Kosovo in 1999 just to take attention off his affair. The genocide, ethnic cleansing and other atrocities in Kosovo and Bosnia are well documented. My city has welcomed the largest community of people leaving Bosnia, etc., than any other city in the U.S. I had a young man who escaped from a concentration camp in my home doing some maintenance work. In my home. In that day and age. I was horrified. Certain Serbian commanders used to tie non-Serb women to fences and allow the armies to rape them then left the women in the elements to die still tied to the fences. Plus the memory of how America felt in 1993 after Somalia when the bodies of our brave Delta Force members were dragged through the street and the U.S. wanting to appear strong again may have been a factor as well. While I’m thinking about it, one of Clinton’s other stated goals was to kill Osama Bin Laden but the country would never have been behind him during that era. Now he is blamed for not sending a massive troop strength to the Middle East in order to get Bin Laden. The world looking thru post-9/11 glasses.
I never gave two poops about the man’s private life and the GOP witch hunt really DID distract the country from the real enemies of our freedom. But Clinton treated Monica like a two-bit slut…the opposite of what a southern gentleman should do. He was a sleeze (so were several presidents, in fact) there is no doubt. But I was younger and more idealistic in those days and I wanted my government to do *something* about atrocities against a vulnerable European people. Maybe it was a mistake in hindsight, I dunno. But one would have to be especially short sighted to believe Clinton did it all to distract from lying about sex.
I am an Elizabeth Warren fan all the way. Never jumped on Hillary’s train. The thought of Slick Willy wandering the White House halls with nothing to do is a recipe for, well, something icky. Still…I think the timing of Monica jumping out in the public eye at this point in time is extremely suspicious.
I just wanted to get that off my chest at this too early hour. Sorry!
I just want to pipe in with kudos to Tyler Clementi’s parents. It’s unfortunate, truly tragic, that they had to lose a son, but they showed great strength and character by leaving their church and changing beliefs and attitudes, so that their other son, and people like him, have staunch supporters who chose humanity over rigidity.
She has made mistakes. And yes she was threaten badly I would feel sorry for her if she wasn’t talking about her past every now and then. And not you she is not the first victim of international rage ask to Camilla Parker Bowels.
Was the ‘bowels’ part a Freudian slip, typo, or commentary? Anyway, it made me chuckle.
Ahahah no, I am at work and I’m tipying very fast with autocorrection on but LOL
Lol, I thought you were making a joke.
Don’t get me started on Camilla. I am forever sympathetic to Camilla after the way she was treated too. No one deserves the public treatment she received. And people think Us Brits are stiff upper lipped!!
Luca76: Linda Tripp pretended to be Monica’s BFF so she could trap her. Linda originally worked at the white house and had a run in with the clintons which resulted in her transfer to the Virginia. I can’t remember the exact cause of the run in, but Linda lost because she had no evidence to support her case.
She was simply a random work colleague who realised that Monica was close to the Clintons, closer than was decent, and set about befriending Monica and encouraging her to talk until she had enough evidence to report, she was asked to wear a wire tap after that, plus she is the one who encouraged Monica NOT to clean the blue dress on the grounds that Monica could use it as evidence in any hypothetical run in with the Clintons were evidence was needed. Young, naive Monica had no clue she was being led down the garden path and she’s the one whose life was subsequently ruined. I doubt anyone truly remembers Linda Tripp.
“weirly disparate people like Tyler Clementi ”
Excuse me? I cannot believe you just said that about a person that took their own life due to the bullying they received. What a homophobic, distasteful and hateful comment that is. smh
In context, I think she meant that there’s a disparity between what happened to Monica and what happened to Tyler and Jennifer Lawrence. I don’t think she was trying to say that Tyler himself was weirdly disparate.
Um….she said “disparate”, not desperate.
“weirly disparate people”
Seems to me she wasn’t talking about disparity, but misspelled desperate. She was calling Tyler weird and desperate. In the context of a sentence, it makes no sense call someone a weirly [sic] disparate person. A SITUATION is disparate, you don’t call a PERSON disparate.
Get it yet? She called Tyler weirdly desperate.
Again, context. Hitching her wagon to two people that have nothing to do with her? Disparate. Disparity. Nothing alike. No way to compare.
Her word choice was spot on.
That’s exactly what I was going to say Tessa but you beat me to it.
You can so call a comparison between two people disparate. Why not? Who made up that rule?
Again, you do not call a PERSON weirdly disparate. That makes no grammatical sense. It makes no sense at all. Nobody does that. She was calling him weirdly desperate. She misspelled desperate. That’s all. Period.
Girl what?!?! learn how to read .. And CONTEXT .. What I said was DISPARATE (as in different as in two different tipping points that have absolutely nothing to do with each other…shit…with HER for that matter?!?)… Nevermind Ya’ll read and understood and explained!! …youve GOT to be shitting me if you thing ME of all people is gonna clown that poor young man ..gtfo
I didn’t read a misspelling of “desperate” there at all. QQ could have worded it better, but her intention is clear: “How can Lewinsky compare her situation to such disparate situations as Clementi’s or Lawrence’s?” She didn’t mean desperate. That’s all. Period.
Ok, let’s break it down in grammar terms. Disparate modifies (or describes) Tyler as in the two people are very unalike. Weirdly describes disparate as in the difference between the two people is weird or it is weird HOW unalike they are. Weirdly DOES NOT describe Tyler. I think everyone above has been quite clear. It seems to me you are simply choosing not to understand at this point.
She’s comparing their two situations. Disparate. You are reaching trying to make it an insult.
I’m so mad I just wasted 5 minutes of my life reading through this thread..
Jam
QQ explained what she meant. I have read most of her posts for a long time, and have never, ever read anything homophobic or cruel. You are wrong.
QQ it was an excellent word choice. I’m sorry you got attacked like that. Most people on Celebitchy do not need interpreters. You certainly do not!!!
Yeah no worries Belle, Being fake attacked online by a dum dum with reading comprehension issues dont faze me… being in any way painted as homophobic Is what The F*ck we are NOT gonna do today
Jam, if you’re going to play grammar police, you should probably make sure you are correct. It would appear that everyone else understood EXACTLY what QQ meant except you. And I think you chose to be obtuse and you chose to attempt to pick a fight. You just picked the wrong place to do so. That’s all. Period.
“weirly disparate people like Tyler Clementi and Jennifer Lawrence”
To make your case, you have to cut the “and Jennifer Lawrence” part. And if you have no case without selective quotation that completely alters the sense of the words used, you have no case at all.
The point was, very obviously, that Tyler Clementi, Jennifer Lawrence and Monica Lewinski have very little in common – the cases are weirdly disparate. I actually disagree, because what they all have in common is the internet used as a weapon of humiliation and harassment. But I understood the point being made, and it is in no conceivable way homophobic. It can’t sustain that interpretation of the words used unless you edit them down so much they say something wholly different, solely to suit your case. Which means it can’t say what you claim it does if you use their words, and not yours.
I can’t imagine this poor girl has had much of shot at a normal life since the scandal. She couldn’t really slot back into um-drum, get a job, meet new people, join clubs etc. mode without people knowing who she was and all the hassle that comes with the recognition – I am sure she was called out for being a wanton woman too (and in much worse terms than that I am sure). It must be awful to live without the freedom of anonymity that we take for granted every day. The choices of what to do in life are limited. She seems to be using her reputation in an honorable and useful way, to bring attention to the hideousness and cowardice of online bullying.
I actually disagree – I think she could have had a somewhat normal life. What happened to her was awful, but she’s not the first person to deal with a scandal or have her name dragged through the mud. Yes, it would have been rocky at first, but her parents are wealthy enough that she had the resources and time available to her to remake her life and make that affair more a footnote and less the defining moment in her life.
But she wanted the fame. She didn’t want a normal life: she wanted to be famous and in the spotlight, and the only thing she had that put her there was the affair with Clinton. So rather than move on from it, I feel like she’s latched onto it as her identity.
Like I said: this isn’t to dismiss any of what happened to her. It was awful. But how she moved on from the incident, that was the one thing in her power.
She looks very pretty in that header pix.
And please can someone tell me why this woman is still bullied and brutally criticized after 16 years and her partner in crime is left alone?
It’s probably as a result of this male-dominated society we live in where the woman carries nearly or in most cases the whole blame of extramarital affairs.
It’s such a shame cos in something as delicate as sex it takes two to tango. Unless it’s non-consensual which is most definitely not the case here.
I think both she and her “partner-in-crime” should be left alone. Their issues are between them. The focus instead should be why a group of hypocritical, adulterous pigs got away with wasting tens of millions of our tax dollars investigating them for political purposes. Yes, adulterers lie! So did adulterer Henry Hyde, the lead pig in wasting our money and harassing Monica.
Bill Clinton had an opportunity, many in fact, to admit to the affair and take the heat off of his young intern, and did not. He had a chance to be a gentleman and a leader, and he lied under oath. How soon people forget.
Don’t forget Newt Gingrich who was having an affair with his staffer Callista Bisek (now his third wife) while he oversaw Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings in his role as Speaker of the House. Ugh.
I feel for Monica, but I think getting on twitter is pointless. LBR, twitter isn’t usually substantial unless it is for a legitimate news site. I think she could advocate against online bullying without getting on social media.
A lot of the shit she went through made me think of how differently men and women are treated when it comes to personal bad choices like affairs. She made a bad choice, but she was also in her early 20s and wasn’t the married one. The public shaming was so stupid. Bill did worse, but at the end of the day scarlet lettering both of them was crazy. They made a personal, private mistake and didn’t break any laws. That whole situation is why a lot of the world calls us puritanical. When the French president had an affair with an actress, the American press made a bigger deal of it then the French press. I still find it crazy that Monica’s life was nearly ruined. Also, the hypocrisy because so many of Bill’s right wing detractors were later found out to be screwing around themselves
I felt that way once, but over the past few years I’ve realized how privileged that opinion is. Plenty of people have NO voice in real life, and find an outlet via social media (namely Twitter) to see accurate representations of people like themselves, and to be heard for the first time.
For women of color and people living under oppressive government regimes, Twitter is ANYTHING but trivial. Hashtags actually do spark political and social debates these days, and for people being institutionally discriminated against, Twitter is often the only real medium where they can expect to reach people in positions of greater power.
I think she might still be attacked, because she doesn’t know when to shut up. So what, she was the bimbo who gave him a BJ. That’s old news. She needs to stop bringing up the past!!
Agree AND she wasn’t “bullied” – she was a news story, a big news story. I’m not buying that she was “bullied”. She screwed up big time and got called out on it. It would have been giant news even without the internet. Sit down again please.
@ Pandy shows how much you know. She was absolutely bullied not only about her actions but her physical appearance. Her name s infamous and has even been used in Kanye ad Beyonce songs many years after the fact.
So why don’t sit down right next to her.
She was absolutely bullied, and mocked and ridiculed and blamed. I always felt terribly for her, it was just so unfair. Honestly, who among us can honestly say they wouldn’t be seduced by the leader of the free world? I know I would have been so mesmerized if that were me.
Your comments are bullying her again. Why are you so full of vitriol and judgement? This is exactly what she is rallying against, more power to her, if she can urge people to lighten up and not be such complete *holes on the internet she will have done more good than you seem willing to do.
Good for her. Considering her life was literally ruined for one stupid mistake she made in her twenties and that she was crushed by not one but two corrupt political machines.
I’m not down for blaming this all on Hillary though. In all of the criticism on this I’ve seen people forget that Hillary is a woman after all just trying her best to cope with being married to a pig. (That happens to be a political genius and great president)
This isn’t the issue to skewer Hillary over.
Hilary was in charge of the campaign to save Bill. She hired people like James Carvill author of such gems as, ‘ if you run a dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you are going to catch’, in response to what they termed ‘bimbo explosions’ as a reference to all the women Bill’s exposed jump off.
She led a team that dismissed these women on the grounds that they were trailer trash and therefore not worth a dime.
It’s amazing how people forget Hilary’s very red handed cookie jar participation in the campaign to save Bill.
Agreed LAK. And I will add that none of it — not Senator Clinton, not Presidential Candidate Clinton, not Secretary of State Clinton and, not presumptive 2016 Democratic Nominee Clinton — happens without the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Not.One.Bit.Of.It. Hillary’s negatives were astronomical during Bill’s presidency. Hillary was blamed for a lot of things that went wrong during those years yet remained unapologetic. Then she was able to play the scorned woman (and I do mean “play”), sympathy came her way, she was “humanized” and the rest is history.
I don’t think anyone forgot – I actually think that’s part of why some people (especially men) hate her. Hillary plays politics like a man, she plays it dirty and backstabbing and with an eye on what she wants and woe befall anyone who gets in her way.
I’m not condoning, by the way, just pointing out something I’ve noticed over the years. I have my issues with Hillary, but it’s one thing I respect about her: she’s never hid her ambition. Even Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand – who are powerful, intelligent women in their own rights – tend to play down their skills and ambition at times. Hillary doesn’t.
I don’t think it’s quite accurate to say that the Clintons escape online abuse- Hilary is routinely gutted online for everything she says, does, wears,etc. Quite frankly I’m surprised there weren’t conspiracy theorists saying the recent birth of their granddaughter was a hoax( and God forbid if there is such, don’t tell me!). As far as Bill Clinton goes, what hasn’t been said about him? And still is said?
Hil is in the public eye, makes speeches, and could possibly run for president. She is not “gutted” for Monica all the time. Monica is a footnote to Hilary, this is Monica’s entire identity.
Please no woe is Hilary stuff. There is no way this was Bill’s first or last extra curricular bj.
But she could have done something else with her life. She does not have to keep coming back in the news, keep talking – again- about how hard and horrible and how naive and innocent she was. Again, and again and again. That one mistake, one moment in her life could have been a footnote in hilarie’s life. She’s the one making her whole life about it.
you are right she could have done something with her life.
I despise Hillary (as a politician-don’t know her in person), but I will be the first to admit that the garbage thrown at her online is ridiculous. In the 2008 election the treatment of both her and Sarah Palin (I know everyone on this site hates Palin, but still), was so horrible. The nastiness thrown at the women in that campaign was unbelievable…dirt was thrown on the men, but not nearly on the same level.
If she had been famous for something other than this scandals or if it was more recent I would understand her more for getting involved with this.
Sorry but I don’t feel bad for her at all. I’m tired of the “she wasn’t the one who was married” argument. She knew he was. Yes, he should get shit, too. That doesn’t make what she did OK. She intentionally inflicted hurt on Hillary and Chelsea. How is that not bullying, too?
So 16 years after the fact we are all supposed to shun her or keep ridiculing her? Her bullying Hilary? Ya that’s like saying a toy poodle is beating up a poor pit bull.
Although I do feel bad for her and feel she should be able to rebuild her life, I agree with you about the “poor young girl” narrative. She was 24, not a child, and there are plenty of young women her age who would not have engaged in an affair with a married man. While I hope they do it respectfully, people who are offended by her choices are also allowed to weigh in.
I don’t remember anyone questioning whether or not people were ‘allowed’ to weigh in on anything. Yes, our constitution allows you to say whatever you want, good or bad. This is about the impact of the things people say and the underlying social problems behind the things said. Regardless of how one feels about marital fidelity or any other type of sexual ‘virtue’ or ‘rule’ (whatever you want to call it), do you really think any type of consensual sex makes a person deserving of years of verbal abuse, harassment, and not being able to get a job?
If this whole Clinton scandal happened today she would be a star with own reality show and PMK as a manager. Funny, isn’t it?!
That’s what she wants.
Exactly.
You’re soooooooooooo right. The same country that condemned her, idolizes another woman who got famous by getting peed on. Times they are a changin.
Some people, if they don’t get attention, feel like they don’t exist…I suspect Monica Lewisky is one of those people.
Your assessment is spot on. She’s just sorry she missed the opportunities available to people today who are made famous because of a scandal.
Bullseye! Monica saw how Kim Kardashian made a mint over a sex tape without people batting an eye. So why should she be ostracized while KK is now an “A list celebrity” because of it? Instead of going on Twitter, she should call Kris Jenner to see if she could give her advice or maybe even represent her.
She did get horribly raked over the coals and Ken Starr set out purposely to humiliate Clinton. Monica was merely a prop in Starr’s hate-filled retaliation to what he perceived as the disdain of the President and his voters against him.
However, Monica went for Clinton like a heat-seeking missile. Remember what she said when she got her internship? “I’m going to the White House to get my Presidential knee-pads.” She followed him, flirted shamelessly with him, initiated every encounter with him and made it quite clear that sex was the goal.
It’s admirable that she’s choosing online bullying as her focus now, having been the poster child for web-based shaming, but I can’t feel too much sympathy for her because she deliberately went after the President, not vice versa.
Why is she still talking about this? I thought we were all over this crap. She needs to learn to STFU!!!
…because Hilary is getting ready to run for President? Very suspicious suddenly she back making speeches about the Clinton scandal.
After 20 years, what is the point of this except to make herself relevant again.
“Patient Zero”…really…great articulation (NOT). Heard her on the news this a.m. and was not impressed.
I live in DC and during the scandal I was stunned that, as the news was breaking, Monica was out to dinner every night with lawyer, drinking cosmos and appearing to enjoy the limelight. It wasn’t until Plato Cacheris came onto the case that she went into seclusion.
How shamed did she feel? IDK, but this strikes me as just another round of famewhoring.
I was there too and remember all too well her and that buffoon Ginsberg playing to the cameras. She has her parents to thank for actually hiring competent counsel in Cacheris and Stein, however belatedly they did so.
She’s such a beautiful girl. And good on her for standing up.
Right. Let’s reward people for bad behavior. Sleep with a married man? Get your own tv show! What a role model.
I wonder why you keep putting words in my mouth on thread after thread.
For the record, I lived through the original scandals. I don’t approve of what she did, but the way she was punished was far beyond the original transgression. I wonder how you’d feel about 2 very powerful groups of people, with full weight of the government and then some, coming after you, and that was before the international public humiliation of your wrong doing.
Her punishment went beyond the standard public scarlet letter and in the meantime, the architects of her punishments are Scott free and in some cases lauded.
She remains a byword for shame. She’s never allowed to forget it. Everywhere she goes, it is brought up. Time and time again. It’s time she stood up for herself and forced the world to remove her scarlet letter. She’s been a victim for too long whilst the people who victimised her are praised and or allowed to move on with their lives.
Bill has been well-rewarded, repeatedly, for his bad behavior. His speaking fees are huge, he’s well paid for every minute appearance. And it didn’t ever take much flirting to get Bill’s attention. His zipper problems were well-known before & after ML. What got him in trouble was that he lied about it under oath. Presidents who commit perjury severely disappoint some segments of their constituencies.
My goodness, the drama. By all means, “good for her for standing up.” Is that putting words in your mouth as I do, “thread after thread?” Let’s forget that she not only initiated an affair with a married man, then SAVED HIS SEMEN, “just in case,” but has used it over and over in many failed attempts to profit from it. Poor girl. No TV show. The handbags didn’t sell. She was treated horribly, as has been documented repeatedly. I truly feel sorry for her. I also “lived through the original scandal,” and you’re right, she was punished far beyond her original crime. But I disagree that she’s still the subject of anything. I, along with most normal people, haven’t thought of her in years. There’s no reason she couldn’t be living a quiet, normal life, just like Bill’s other victims, Jennifer Flowers, for one. She was run out of town on a rail and smeared to smithereens by the Clinton machine. Monica wants to be famous. She wants this all dredged by up, and she wants money. For sleeping with the President. So, “good for her for standing up” strikes me as a bit much.
Gennifer Flowers and Monica were not the same thing at all. Gennifer has faded because hers was a fairly standard campaign scandal (and she hustled WAY harder than Monica after her scandal, by the way – tried to act and model). Monica was at the center of an honest to goodness constitutional crisis that completely changed the presidency. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that her name will live on forever because of mistakes made when she was barely out of her teens. She did try to capitalize on it in a proto Kardashian way in her 20s, when she was hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal debt. The handbag line and television show you mention were both over a decade ago. Since then, she has tried to live quietly, go to school, make no noise, trying to escape her fame/shame, and apparently has been unable to build a career or a relationship. So she’s leaning into her infamy by bringing attention to an important, relevant cause – not a quick shot of cheap television shows, etc, but with some dignity. There is no shame in wanting money – everyone needs a job and everyone needs to get paid. I am sure she would much rather be anonymous and married somewhere, gossiping occasionally about her White House BJs, maybe, but not being reminded of it every waking hour. Linda Tripp took that option away from her. She will never be anonymous, and she should not have to live in shame.
H
I don’t think she should have to live in shame, either. She should make peace with what she did and forgive herself. And of course there’s no shame in needing money or a job. But I don’t believe for one second that her concern is about on-line bullying. Her concern is what is has always been – capitalizing on her infamy. She’s the one dragging all of this back up now, while at the same time saying how much pain all of the notoriety caused her. You can’t have it both ways. And I don’t believe that she couldn’t have gotten an education and training and a job if she wanted to “live quietly.” That’s just ridiculous.
As for her name living on forever, go ask some teenagers or twenty-something’s who Monica is. They won’t know. Or care.
@taxi : I don’t think that BC has been rewarded for his affair with her. He’s being rewarded for his work and knowledge in politics. And he did not escape the humiliation, the shame etc
And while I do not think she should have been treated that badly, while I do believe that the one in a marriage is the one who should protect said marriage, I just can’t see her as a victim.
She choose to have sex with a married man, she choose to have sex with a married man in a very pro-eminent position, with all the risks entailed. She choose to talk about it with a co-worker. She choose to keep a dirty dress. She choose and keep choosing to talk about it publicly.
Yes I know her name, I know who Monica Lewinsky is. I know what she looked like. I did not know what she look like know and would not have remembered her. She also could have chosen to use another first name. Ever heard of Samille Lewinsky ?
@GoodNames she has said that she did try to get regular jobs that she is well qualified for, but no one wants to hire “the bimbo who gave BC a BJ.” I don’t believe she could just fade away even if she wanted to. Everyone knows her name still. I was a small child when the scandal happened and even I know who she is. So do people younger than me–her name is part of Beyonce and Kanye songs for God’s sake. Of course we young people know who she is. You’re being overly harsh.
Jay, perhaps if she’s in a popular song, then I’m wrong about young people not knowing her name. My intention is not to be harsh, just realistic. I know she said she can’t get a job. I don’t believe her. I think she wants to be famous and rich, and she’s bringing all of the attention of this scandal back up herself in order to capitalize on it. Why do you think she saved that semen on the dress? Are you aware that Bill Clinton was the third married man with whom she had an affair? Do you really think that this timing is a coincidence? She has issues, and she has an agenda. I think what happened to her at the time was disgraceful. But I don’t think she should be rewarded or applauded for her behavior, either. If that’s harsh, then so be it.
I agree she has definite issues. But I do believe she can’t find a job, at least not in the type of work she wants to do and is qualified for. Think about it from the employer’s perspective… Monica Lewinsky’s application lands on your desk. Are you really going to hire her with all the infamy her name brings? I know if I was working and Monica Lewinsky became my coworker, there’d be lots of whispers. it would be distracting, and I’m sure many employers feel that way too. So while I don’t think she should be applauded for her behavior, I think this is just a woman grasping at straws and I feel sorry for her.
She may be a beautiful woman doing something admirable (for the first time in her life…) but she was after the President from the first time she set foot in the White House. She flashed her thong at him. She made it quite clear that she’d welcome his advances. She came on to him time and time again until, being the adulterer he always was, he succumbed.
Somehow I don’t trust her motivation for doing this anti-bullying stuff, she just loves being famous (or infamous as the case may be).
Jaded: I don’t approve of how they conducted this affair. She shouldn’t have gone after him AND he shouldn’t have succumbed or let it carry on as long as it did.
What puts me in her corner is the aftermath of the affair. As I said in my previous comment, apart from the initial Clinton vs Ken Starr shenanigans crushing her, she’s remained a byword for shame and in the meantime everyone else is Scott free, lauded and making more money.
It’s more than enough time for her to stand up and take back her reputation. If this means supporting those who’ve been shamed, who think they can’t endure it and think suicide is the only alternative, then that can only be a good thing.
I don’t see how anybody/everybody got off scott free. The President’s persona was ruined afterward. His marriage was turmoil. Hillary stayed because it was best for the country, her family, both their careers, and because she loved the idiot that BC is. He was interrogated, investigated, faced the public’s outrage, his family, and more we’ll never know about. Just because he didn’t go broke or leave the political arena, doesn’t mean he didn’t pay too.
I totally agree with LAK. I don’t know which one of them started it, however, many people who have met Bill Clinton say he is oozing charisma, unbelievably charming, a great listener, and much better looking in person. So Monica has to go to work with him everyday, he probably just had to put a little nice cologne on, and bam! I too lived through it, it was on CNN everyday, (I am 5 years older than her), and at the time I thought she was blamed more than him. I didn’t have common sense for stuff like this until I was 30 years old, I could have easily got into something like this at 24. To me it was a stupid, naive, bad decision, just like some of the mistakes many victims of internet bullying have made. I think what she is doing is a very brave thing.
If she stood up more instead of kneeling down, she wouldn’t be in this predicament.
Just being a wiseass. Seriously, she was treated horribly. Had it been me, I would have made something of myself and moved on with my life, and to hell with all the haters. Living well is the best revenge.
While I think she was treated atrociously (and illegally) at the hands of Kenneth Starr and his team, she needs to STFU with the victim-playing and the whole “I fell in love with my boss” thing.
First, she was certainly old enough to know better – her boss was married, and NOT TO HER.
Second, George Stephanopoulos visited my college campus during his book tour for “All Too Human” and he spoke very candidly about his own experiences with Monica Lewinsky. He described someone very predatory who was always interested in wooing men of power. She went after George hard and wouldn’t stop until he made it clear he wasn’t interested. She walked into his office unannounced a couple of times. Not appropriate for an intern anywhere, much less at the White House.
^ALL OF THIS.
I believe George’s statements. I like Hillary Clinton but acknowledge that her main priority was not about protecting Monica but standing by her husband and saving his political career (as well as hers). I actually understand that. Monica’s statements that she was in love with her former boss, the President of the United States, who was married with a family at the time is unacceptable to me. I don’t believe she was in love nor even understood what it meant at her age. She was probably most in love with his power and being able to seduce the most powerful man in the world. If that is her mojo and she was going after any powerful guy in DC, then there was always the chance of getting burned.
If she really wanted to live her life, she would not be once again shoving herself down our throats. (no pun intended) She wants to be in the public eye/a celebrity, why does she always come out around election trail time?
go live your life and step away from the camera–she can’t and won’t do it.
I do not feel sorry for her, in the least bit.
Just curious…what does the fact that she is Jewish have to do with anything?
I didn’t really feel that bad for her. What did she think would happen when the story got out? In my eyes both of them shouldn’t gone there. He was married and she knew better. Before people jump on me I know no one is perfect. Nor am I saying she deserved any of the treatment she received from this. I just don’t understand why she’s still bringing it up.
The reason Monica keeps bringing it up is because she wants attention. Everyone else involved in this sordid saga has moved on but her. You don’t hear anything about Linda Tripp. She isn’t on twitter. I remember some years ago she was selling handbags and that went nowhere. Every few years she surfaces. She just wants people to know that she’s still here.
Monica has been defined by the scandal. But she really doesn’t want a normal life. She enjoys the attention.
I knew we’d see her now. I don’t hate her, she doesn’t bother me.
Truthfully, I believe that HIllary’s team is working with her, they are wisely getting in front of this story again, because as soon as HIllary declares, this is all going to be dredged up. They are going to beat it into the ground now, using Monica to do it, so Hillary won’t have to.
It’s smart, obvious, and well planned.
That is the weirdest and least likely conspiracy theory I have ever heard about the Clintons.
She has amazing hair. That’s all I got.
i know there’s more to talk about here but yeah, such great hair.
Yes, her hair was always on point.
That’s what I always notice about her too.
What a bunch of woe is me crap! She claims she’s been so marked by that chapter in her life that it wound up defining her, and yet, she is the one, still, that continues to use that chapter as her focus when she does talk to the media. She likes the attention. She likes being forever seen as the mistress because in her mind it makes her feel important and dare I say, desirable. If she really wanted to put it all behind her, she’d stop bringing it up, writing books about it, and now using the bully platform to make herself a victim. She was never a victim. She did something horrible, got caught, got called out for it, and has never stopped trying to justify it.
I, too, was 22 at one time, but I didn’t fall in love with my boss, let alone have an affair with him. It was more than a mere mistake. She paid it for it, so why won’t she let it be over? She’s still mad she paid for it. She thinks she should have got a pass. She’s still saying the affair was her “everything”, but we all know it certainly wasn’t everything for the President. I highly doubt her sexual favors were returned and having a cigar stuck in you can’t be considered something for her. That was for him as was all of it. She was just another bimbo allowing herself to be used by a guy that was willing to take what he could get. She still seems dillusional about that. Giving blow jobs on the fly are pretty one-sided. Keeping a dress with his cum stain on it doesnt’ make it romantic. It was what it was. There’s no way she was even the only one.
As for the bullying platform, I take issue with that. What happened to her is nothing like what happened to Tyler Clementi. He was outed without his permission or warning to his family and friends. Being outed as a gay person cannot be compared to being outed as a mistress. Tyler faced homophobia. He faced a kind of humiliation nobody can attest to experiencing without being themselves gay. His sexual acts were videotaped and shared! He was still in college and faced a campus of young people’s hatred face to face. He never did anything wrong. It wasn’t an affair. It wasn’t sordid or hurting anyone. It was extremely private, intimate, and personal, but not wrong in any way. He was truly bullied. She, on the other hand, was not bullied. She had an affair with a married, powerful man who had a wife and family. She did more than just hurt some people. She faced the public’s backlash and was exposed as a mistress. That is not being bullied. That is facing consequences for bad choices. BC is more awful b/c he was the one that was married and he betrayed his wife, his kids, and the nation. That doesn’t make her any less culpable. She was a grown woman and knew exactly what she was doing. She needs to go away and stop trying garner sympathy attention. It’s played already. I continue to have no respect for her as long as she continues to ride this train. Get a normal job and live a normal life. Stop trying to stay in the spotlight. This continues to be all about attention. She couldn’t be more transparent if she tried. I bet an honest shrink would diagnose her with histrionic disorder and possibly as a narcissist.
I’m not crazy about defending Monica, but she was out of the spotlight and laid low for a long long time (and by long time, I mean a decade). She went to school in England, tried finding “regular” jobs, tried to lead a “normal” life and had a very difficult time doing so, all the while others were able to profit handsomely off her mistake/bad judgment. The Vanity Fair article from this summer is very enlightening in this regard. So with that background, I can see why she is choosing this new “public” route. She screwed up. She has a bag full of issues. But she was the one great big loser in all of this (well, aside from the American public) and I feel sorry for her.
Well said Kate, the only thing I want to add is that this thread is so full hatred and judgement for this woman. I am not religious but I do say that he who is without sin can caste that first stone. If she were your daughter, sister, mother, friend would you not wish for her all that she wanted her life to be? Who is she hurting by being the voice of a horrible plague, internet hatred?
It’s ironic that she is now the victim, again, of internet hate.
Get over yourselves people, until the Kardashians are forced off of these pages I give Ms Lewinsky a huge pass.
I agree completely. I can’t stand the Clintons and I think they helped to destroy the Democratic party, moving it and the U.S. as a whole WAY to the right. (I couldn’t care less about Bill’s numerous affairs.) They are narcissistic, war-mongering opportunists, but Lewinsky isn’t a saint.
To compare her being ridiculed for acting – of her own volition – “inappropriately” with the president with being bullied merely for being gay is horrible and extremely self-centered, in my opinion.
I agree JenniferJustice, and I think her claims that she couldn’t find a “normal” job just reflect her idea of her own entitlement to something “special.” She could have found a job. She wants to be famous.
+1.
And I wonder about her definition of a normal job.
Well said Jennifer. The only reason she kept that blue dress and didn’t clean it was because she planned to use it. The repubs spent what, 60 million on this fiasco, but we still don’t know the real truth.
I agree with you in that the difference between what Monica Lewinsky went through vs. what Tyler Clementi went through is that Monica did something wrong while Tyler didn’t. But the two situations are still comparable not only because they were public, but because both are cases of sexual bullying, and sexual bullying has been linked to suicidal ideation in its victims. I don’t think it’s right to knowingly have an affair with a person who’s in a monogamous marriage to someone else either, but I also wouldn’t participate in harassing or verbally abusing some stranger for it for years, or defend that harassment or verbal abuse either, and think people need to be more forgiving. I do partially believe that Monica Lewinsky could’ve made things somewhat better for herself if she didn’t keep bringing this up, but I do also suspect that it messed up her life and career opportunities in some way too.
The hypocrisy was overwhelming. All those dirty old men getting off on listening to all the sordid details they coerced her into admitting. Newt Gingrich sleeping with a staffer while vilifying Clinton and Monica. Etc. As far as I’m concerned, this is America and her private sex life was no one’s business. They didn’t murder anyone or commit a crime. What would have happened to JFK had he lived in this era, with all his women?
I would hate to have to answer for things I did in my 20s foe the rest of my life.
The first thought that popped in my head was the use of ‘a Lewinsky’ as a connation of someone who has a warped notion of what qualifies as sex in the Sex and the City’s, “20-something’s…”. The girl in question was rebutting to Carrie’s question of what she considered sex because the girl claimed to be a virgin. Haha
meh.
She just needs to pull it together. Plenty of celebrities have gone through far worse, including her lover himself. She can turn it around for herself. Pick yourself up, woman – you deserve to have a good life!
Maybe I’m a heartless a$$hole, but I don’t have much sympathy for her. You slept with a married man. Every time you write an ‘essay’ or give an ‘interview’ or work with Howard Stern, you are capitalizing on it. No matter what you think about Bill or Hillary, they are still married and they have a kid. I think Chelsea should write an essay about how it feels to have your dad’s side piece pop up every few years crying about how SHE has been hurt.
And then Chelsea can mail that letter straight to her daddy since he’s the one who betrayed his family, NOT Monica.
When you willingly and knowingly have sex with a married man, you are a participant in the betrayal. No, you didn’t make the vows, but you are not innocent and misguided and pure as the driven snow, either. Funny, she banged a married man in her early twenties and I keep seeing “she was young” “she was misguided.” “she made a mistake.” “Her life shouldn’t be ruined.” Too bad we don’t extend those thoughts to people like Kristen Stewart.
It’s wrong to sleep with a married man, but ultimately the responsibility is on the man to stay faithful to his wife and family. If Chelsea has issues, that’s 100% on her dad. Plain and simple. Not sure how Kstew is relevant… no one wants her life to be ruined. Not me, at least.
@paranormalgirl: ” Funny, she banged a married man in her early twenties and I keep seeing “she was young” “she was misguided.” “she made a mistake.” “Her life shouldn’t be ruined.” Too bad we don’t extend those thoughts to people like Kristen Stewart.”
Now this I agree with, and I’ll even add the obnoxious Leanne Rhimes (I probably spelled that wrong) to the list as well, even though she wasn’t in her twenties at the time. I personally think we as a society need to stop this business of raking strangers over the coals for years for affairs and sex tapes altogether. I think it’s kind of toxic how we’re not willing to forgive people we don’t even know and aren’t even effected by for bad consensual sexual decisions they’ve made in the past, even when that bitterness can be harmful to them and their innocent family members. Is it really so unforgivable? It’s especially pathetic when the people who legitimately have the right to be upset about the affair- the spouse and the children- have already moved on with their lives or forgiven the person, but when total random strangers still hold a grudge.
I cannot believe that we are using Monica Lewinsky as a beacon to end cyber bullying. This is a woman from a wealthy family who had an affair as an undergraduate with a married professor. Came to live with Mommy at the Watergate and took an unpaid internship at the White House. How many people’s kids get that opportunity? Then she made every effort from the moment she got to the White House to get close to the President. Was he stupid for screwing around with her? YES! However, she keeps a stained dress, gets a new job at the Pentagon and promptly enters into an affair with a married naval officer and then has an abortion. After that little stint, she gets a job designing handbags at Bergdorf Goodman, and then is afforded the opportunity to get masters at the London School of Economics. Oh, woe is me!
She was no shrinking violet and I am a feminist. That means that if you keep putting yourself in crappy situations, you bear responsibility for your actions and their consequences. She came from money, has means, and is only pissed that her affair didn’t come to light during the height of the internet age so that she could have Kim Kardashian’s career of infamy.
It was bad enough when the Republicans were trying to turn her into a deflowered virgin 15 years ago. Now we have the Democrats doing it because there is a psychotic strain that would rather shoot themselves in the foot than have a Clinton in the White House.
Thank you eurogirl for a common sense post. I loathe Lewinsky. A spoiled little jerk that thinks nothing of the pain her selfish actions bring to others. I cannot believe the sympathy she is garnering with her fake “poor little me” schtick. I have no sympathy for her and don’t believe for one minute she isn’t being paid by republicans to be in the public eye and screw things up for Hillary. The VF guy doesn’t like Hillary. Forbes is republican/conservative. This is typical dirty politics, and if the repub party wasn’t scared shtless of another historic presidential run, they wouldn’t be going to so much trouble to groom her and put her in the public eye.
Don’t you think it’s a waste of anger to be mad at or condemn a stranger because they slept with a married man (another stranger)….16 years ago? I think that’s the point. Yes, her actions were selfish and irresponsible, but don’t you think people who weren’t even touched by the affair have overreacted?
No. Not when she is the one out there milking the sacred martyr cow all on her own.
She is doing this because her life was destroyed by the media by this stupid affair. A few posters are accusing her of wanting to be famous. I don’t see that here. Nobody will hire her! She tried living abroad in England for awhile–people still knew who she was. She hasn’t been able to find work because no one wants to be associated with her name. I mean seriously, if you were HR and saw her name on a resume, would you hire her? You’d probably think the resume was some kind of joke, that’s how much she has been vilified. She may have finally found her cause and I’m glad she may have found her calling. Comedians still make casual jokes about hereven if it has been 15 years. I’ve always said she should have changed her last name or something, I think it would have helped dissociate all the drama that goes along with it.
I was so disgusted by all of it when it went down and still am to this day. She was treated like the worst kind of criminal for doing nothing but making a stupid mistake. And the STARR report? So gross! I refused to read it or hear about it from anyone. I did not and do not want to know details of the president’s sex life…yuck! I always felt that the only people who needed to do anything about it where Bill’s wife and daughter. This should have been a family matter period. And then when the feeding frenzy started and all of these politicians and media mongrels started acting like sharks circling blood. I was a young woman at the time, not much older than Monica and I truly did my best to avoid TV news and the Internet because I grew tired of hearing about it constantly. It really made me think about trusting anyone that I worked with or called a friend in regards to the details of my private life. I think Monica has more than paid her fair share for taking part in the whole affair. She should be able to try and repair the past and move on but people still won’t allow it. It’s sexism at it’s worst.
Is it really a mistake if you are knowingly performing oral sex with a married man, letting him ejaculate on you, and then deciding to keep the dress that he ejaculated on? Excluding that person she told, she was going to keep it to herself – meaning she knew that it was something that shouldn’t be shared.
I’m not putting the blame squarely on her – I think they were both at fault and Hillary had every right to treat both her and Bill however she liked considering she was the one who was being cheated on – but I really resent the “but she was only 21/22” argument. She wasn’t a kid.
I just turned 22 and I know better.
The Lewinsky scandal was a low point for feminism. She was treated so shabbily by everyone – the Clintons, Linda Tripp, Ken Starr, the media….she was just 21. She had a crush on the President. Lots of people did. But she was very young and Clinton – being older and powerful – took advantage of her. And we know it wasn’t the first time he’d done it. And yet, somehow, she became the bad guy and Clinton remained a beloved hero. I still don’t get it. And I don’t the people who say she’s just “cashing in”. Her life was ruined. Her best years were ruined. Now she’s trying to turn her bad choices and naivete into something useful – and again she is being bashed.
What does her age have to do with it? She wasn’t exactly a child.
I’m 22 and I know better.
I did have a lot of sympathy for her until I saw that speech today. I was expecting a mature woman who has learned from her experience. What I saw was a woman who has not progressed past that time in her life. She fell in love with her boss? Come on now. Put your big girl panties say you blew the President, you got busted in the biggest way ever, and you have lived off this the last 16 years.
Fall in Love, that’s an insult to the people who remember the seedy mess.
I thought of the comparisons between Monica Lewinsky and Kristen Stewart. Both exercised galactic stupidity in their extramarital shenanigans. Both were old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. Both were never forced to become sidepieces for married men. And both will be forever identified for their thong flashing and Mini-Coopering respectively.
Now I am seeing both women to regain their lives, but what I am not seeing is these women taking ownership of what they did. They portray themselves as victims. Lewinsky and Stewart were slagged and dragged, but they act as if the public scorn they received absolved them of wrongdoing. Until these women sincerely admit to their deeds and apologize for them, they can’t move forward because the public won’t them because it feels they are not truly sorry, just sorry they got caught.
She’s getting paid some big bucks to try to discredit Matt Drudge. It’s election time. She was used then, and she’s being used now.
She’s blaming everyone but herself, still, so she hasn’t grown up much.
The Clinton Machine chewed her up and spit her out, and when they’re through using her, they’ll do it again.
Say what??? Paid to discredit Drudge? Clinton Machine using her?
Yup. This is from their playbook. Double win, too, get the whole nasty scandal out of Hillary’s way and start an anti-Drudge campaign. Rather amazing that few of you recall how the Clinton’s operate. The 90’s were, for me, eye opening about the dirtiness of politics, and for all of the politicians, a game of power, fame, money. Rather like PMK, only the Clinton’s had the full power of the Executive Branch (funded by us little people) to manipulate the story. My only question all along has been “how did the movie Wag the Dog pre-date the Lewinsky scandal?”
She was a silly 22 year old who was just stupid beyond belief. Emphasis on 22 years old. SHe was horribly mistreated by just about everyone (BC,media, Linda Tripp etc.) and BC was a douche horn dog where she was concerned. I will never, ever get over his finger wagging “I did not have sex with that woman” comment. Her mouth was on your penis and you ejaculated on her–and you refer to her as “that woman?” You stick things in her vagina and she’s “that woman?” Of course yes you did have sex with her. “That depends on what the meaning of is is.” Just bizarre and laughable.
However her 15 minutes of fame were up long ago and this is just a way of somehow reintroducing herself into the public domain and is without much substance.
I concede she was treated horribly and I concede BC is a douche.
Now join us in 2014.
Could you please elaborate on your views concerning her age? I’m 22 years old and I have interned at some local and national government agencies and never in a million years would I have ever thought to engage in something like that.
I believe they were both at fault and I don’t understand what her being 22 has to do with it. She was an adult not an impressionable child.
22 is young…very young. Legally an adult–but trust on this ….there is a lot of wisdom to be obtained from the age of 22 to 4o something.
You can be incredibly smart at 22.
But smarts and wisdom are not the same thing. And she has admitted to being a romantic 22.
Sorry but the reality is we can have this conversation again in 20 years and I’m sure you’ll better understand more fully. Life has a way of educating you as you through the years.
In my opinion, Hillary had every right to treat both Bill and Monica poorly, if she wished. Also, I’m currently the age that Monica was when she performed oral sex on the President and I have to say, that though I’m young, I know better.
They are BOTH at fault. Bill, for engaging in an affair – especially with someone considerably younger and with less power and Monica, for following through with the deed despite knowing that he is the married PRESIDENT of the United States.
You’re not a kid anymore at 21, you’re a legal adult and we need to stop trying to frame her as something other than that.
the comments in this thing are infuriating, but not surprising. She was 22 years old and I doubt all y’all were Rhode f’ing Scholars at 22 – she made a mistake and he was in the highest position of power we have in this country. The sexual politics of it alone are disgusting. She should have known better? HE should have known better. Gross.
How is Zoe Quinn a victim again? Oh yeah, she got called out on her immoral business practices. God forbid. I don’t care for Anita Sarkeesian, but at least she isn’t immoral. The death threats are excessive, though.