NEWSMonica Lewinsky Says 'You Can Survive The Unimaginable' 25 Years After She Had An Affair With Bill Clinton
Jan. 20 2023, Updated 2:15 p.m. ET
Monica Lewinsky is sharing some words of wisdom 25 years after it was revealed that she had an affair with then-President Bill Clinton.
In a new piece for Vanity Fair, the activist, 49, wrote 25 tips and tricks she's learned over the years.
“As the years pass, one’s taste in partners gets better,” she quipped.
The brunette beauty then told people to "choose your friends carefully," as Linda Tripp betrayed her by secretly recording their phone conversations about her rendezvous with Clinton, 76.
“Twenty-five years ago I had one of the world’s worst friends: Linda ‘Judas, hold my beer’ Tripp,” she stated. “While I have since let go of the resentment and bitterness that surrounded her and her betrayal, it’s not lost on me how very fortunate I am to have been able to trust new people.”
“Lastly, I don’t know how to say this other than to be direct and insufferably corny: You can survive the unimaginable,” she concluded. “Not for nothing did I name my film and TV production company Alt Ending.”
Lewinsky and Clinton's relationship last from 1995 to 1997, but it didn't become known to the public until 1998. The politician, who was married to Hillary Clinton at the time, was under investigation, and the House of Representatives voted to impeach him for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
He was later acquitted of all charges in February 1999 and finished his second term until January 2001.
This is hardly the first time the writer has spoken about the scandalous moment. “At the time — at least from my point of view — it was an authentic connection, with emotional intimacy, frequent visits, plans made, phone calls and gifts exchanged,” she shared in 2014. “In my early 20s, I was too young to understand the real-life consequences, and too young to see that I would be sacrificed for political expediency. I look back now, shake my head in disbelief, and wonder: what was I — what were we — thinking? I would give anything to go back and rewind the tape.”
The tryst affected her career, and when FX's Impeachment: American Crime Story was released in 2016, she had to relive everything all over again.
“You go to bed one night a private person, and the next day you’re a public human being and the whole world hates you. And you might go to jail. And you’re going to bankrupt your family. And, and, and …” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “And just because I wasn’t on the news every night for 20 years in the same way that I was in 1998 doesn’t mean that this story ended. Ten years on, I still could not get a job. I couldn’t support myself.”
Powered by RedCircle
Though the scandal rocked her world, Lewinsky seems to be doing better than ever. "If I had been asked five years ago, there would have been a part of me that needed something — that still wanted something. Not any kind of relationship, but a sense of closure or maybe understanding, and I feel incredibly grateful not to need any of that," she said.
