Monica Lewinsky holds the position that former President Bill Clinton needed to resign once their relationship became known to the public. In a recent Call Her Daddy podcast interview, Lewinsky stated, as an anti-bullying activist, that Clinton should have resigned his position or taken full responsibility without hiding any facts.
“The right way to handle a situation like that would have been to probably say, ‘It was nobody’s business,’ and to resign,” she said. “Or to find a way of staying in office that was not lying and not throwing a young person, who was just starting out in the world, under the bus.”
Cooper, 30, agreed with Monica Lewinsky, calling her perspective “exactly how it should have been handled.”
From Scandal to Advocacy
Monica Lewinsky was 22 when she began a relationship with Clinton, who was 49 at the time. The former president initially denied the affair, famously stating,
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman,”
before later admitting to inappropriate conduct. His impeachment started in the House of Representatives, yet he stayed in office after the Senate voted to exonerate him. The public gave Monica Lewinsky no respite from their harsh media coverage, which portrayed her as both a “stalker” and a “bimbo”. Younger generations currently demonstrate an increased understanding of the power imbalance during the scandal because they are revising how they perceive its story.
“It was the younger generations that really insisted on reevaluating this story because you were all coming to it with just the facts,” Lewinsky said. “You weren’t brainwashed by the media’s lens back then.”
No Apology—But Does She Need One?
Looking back, Monica Lewinsky admitted she didn’t feel angry about the scandal until she realized how much she had lost a decade later.
“It wasn’t until after grad school, when I couldn’t get a job, that I understood the full impact,” she shared.
According to Monica Lewinsky’s testimony, the participants who admitted private regret about the controversy still have not personally apologized to her, although she points out she is past the need for an apology.
Reclaiming Her Story
Monica Lewinsky began using her expertise to defend people from public humiliation and harassment after 2014. A 2015 TED Talk launched Lewinsky to prominence, and in 2021, she conducted the documentary 15 Minutes of Shame. Her podcast Reclaiming has emerged as her latest venture because she uses it to interview Olivia Munn and Alan Cumming about resilience topics.
