Monica Lewinsky speaks out on affair with Clinton
Breaking years of silence, the former White House intern at the center of the scandal that led to President Bill Clinton's impeachment writes in Vanity Fair that her affair was "consensual."- "Perhaps by sharing my story, I reasoned, I might be able to help others in their darkest moments of humiliation," Lewinsky writes.
- The news release from Vanity Fair also makes mention that Lewinsky writes about Hillary Rodham Clinton, and how she was "virtually reclusive" during the 2008 presidential campaign and feels "gun-shy yet again" because of the prospect of another
- The former first lady blamed herself for the scandal and referred to Lewinsky as a "narcissistic loony toon." In the Vanity Fair piece, Lewinsky writes, "My first thought ... If that's the worst thing she said, I should be so lucky."
- Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a campaign stop for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (Photo: AP)
- But these aren't her first public words on the scandal. Lewinsky broke her silence in 1999 with a blockbuster interview with Barbara Walters, gave several subsequent interviews and cooperated with author Andrew Morton on his book the same year,
- Picture for representational purpose
- Invoking her headwear from endlessly repeated TV clips and the stained garment considered as evidence against Clinton, she writes: "It's time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress."
- Lewinsky writes that she deeply regrets the affair and made a point of staying silent through several presidential campaigns to avoid becoming a distraction. She writes, it's time to stop "tiptoeing around my past and other people's futures. I am
- Clinton's lies about the relationship contributed to his impeachment by the House in 1998; the Senate acquitted him.
- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a likely GOP presidential contender, answered criticisms of the Republican record on women's issues by saying in January that the last Democratic president engaged in "predatory behavior" with a woman, Lewinsky, who was 22
- Republicans have signaled they don't consider her husband's scandal from the late 1990s out of bounds in the realm of 2016-style political dialogue.
- Her willingness to step forward may come at an inopportune time as former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton considers running for president.
- In released excerpts, she says she's perhaps the first Internet era scapegoat and wants to speak out on behalf of other victims of online humiliation.
- The former White House intern, now 40, writes about her life in the next issue of Vanity Fair magazine, out this month.
- But she says their affair was consensual and if there was any abuse involved, it came afterward, when Clinton's inner circle tried to discredit her and the president's opponents used her as a political pawn.
- Monica Lewinsky says there's no question her boss — Bill Clinton — "took advantage" of her when he was president.
Breaking years of silence, the former White House intern at the center of the scandal that led to President Bill Clinton's impeachment writes in Vanity Fair that her affair was "consensual."
Monica Lewinsky speaks out on affair with Clinton
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