PoliticsMonica Lewinsky Learned 'Not to Judge' Women Who 'Pose Nude for Money' After She 'Turned Down' $11 Million in Offers Following Bill Clinton Scandal
Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky's affair took place in the mid-1990s.
Sept. 2 2026, Published 4:16 p.m. ET
Monica Lewinsky opened up about learning not to criticize other women who want to take their clothes off in exchange for cash.
In a re-release of the activist's past appearance on Kelly Ripa's "Let's Talk Off Camera" podcast shared on Wednesday, September 2, Lewinsky got candid about declining $11 million in offers following her infamous affair scandal with former president Bill Clinton.
Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton's Affair Took Place in the 1990s
Monica Lewinsky opened up to Kelly Ripa about the fallout of her affair scandal.
The episode, titled "Monica Lewinsky: Is Reclaiming Her Narrative," was originally released in January, and featured the handbag designer discussing with the talk show host, 55, about the aftermath of her rendezvous with Clinton, 80.
Lewinsky was working as a White House intern during Clinton's presidency between 1995 and 1997 when their affair took place.
Kelly Ripa discussed the amount of money Monica Lewinsky could have made following the affair.
"Going through my experience, I really learned to not judge women who have found themselves in difficult situations who then chose to pose nude for money," Lewinsky told Ripa during the episode.
"Because you know what? That sometimes I was lucky. I came from an upper middle class family who could help me. Some people don't. And that's their only f------ option," the cyberbully protester added.
Monica Lewinsky Said $11 Million 'Was a Lot of Money for Me'
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'I had turned down like $11 million, which was a lot of money for me,' the handbag designer said.
Ripa then chimed in to note how Lewinsky could have been swimming in a good amount of job offers following the scandal's wake at the time.
"I sat down at some point and figured out that just even up until I think it was maybe 2000 — maybe it was the early 2010s — this may not sound like an enormous amount of money in today's world. I don't know. You know, depends on your perspective. But I had turned down like $11 million, which was a lot of money for me. That's a lot of money," Lewinsky confessed.
Monica Lewinsky previously said she felt suicidal after the scandal was uncovered.
The London School of Economics graduate noted she received a "combination" of offers worth up to $11 million.
"That's like base money," Lewinsky explained. "Whether it was investments or projects that would have [been] ongoing, I think there's what you turn down. There's what's coming towards you, and what you have to turn down to try to be able to look yourself in the mirror if you can."
Monica Lewinsky Recalled the Fallout of the Scandal Being 'Excruciating'
Monica Lewinsky was a White House intern during Bill Clinton's presidency from 1995 until 1997.
She further looked back on her liaison with Clinton and described feeling suicidal after the ordeal earlier this year in an interview with The Times. "The public humiliation was excruciating. Life was almost unbearable," she recalled.
Lewinsky, who was 22 at the time of the incident while the politician was 49, believed Clinton evaded the intense scrutiny more effortlessly than she did.
"I haven’t spoken to him in almost 30 years and I don’t know what his internal landscape is," she said. "I think he escaped a lot more than I did."
