“It was an avalanche of pain and humiliation,” Monica Lewinsky said during her appearance on John Oliver’s show Last Week Tonight on Monday night.
The 45-year-old was referring, of course, to the public shaming that followed her infamous sexual relationship with then President Bill Clinton.
“You were on the receiving end of one of the worst internet-fueled public shamings of all time,” John Oliver said during the interview. “How the f**k did you get through that?”
Simply, Lewinsky doesn’t know. She describes in the interview feeling as though her “identity was stolen” from her at 22.
What happened to Monica Lewinsky?
In 1995, 22-year-old Monica Lewinsky was hired as an intern at the White House.
She worked closely with Bill Clinton, who was serving his first term as President of the United States.
The two began a sexual relationship in November 1995, which continued until March 1997.
Lewinsky confided in her friend, Laura Tripp, the details of the affair, including gifts she had been given and specific sexual acts that had taken place. Tripp began to record the conversations, which she shared with members of the Independent Counsel in the White House.
Top Comments
I watched this interview last night, and I was so impressed by Monica. She was so smart and funny and very honest about how the whole thing had affected her. Really worth watching.
It was indeed a good interview. Though it does feel like this opinion piece is just JO's segment with a couple of words changed and a extra, extra thick layer of assuming we all were had the opinion of "what a slut!" back in the day unfortunately.
I was also impressed by the Ted talk she did a while back. Considering how young she was when this happened, and the impact it's had on her life, I found her very resilient and impressive also.
Let's remember Bill was the one who was married and cheated on his wife and took advantage of his power over a younger woman.