WASHINGTON – In an upcoming edition of Vanity Fair, Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern made famous after having an affair with then-president Bill Clinton, finally opens up about the difficulties she faced after the scandal broke and the media became obsessed with her. Lewinsky, now 40, reports experiencing suicidal thoughts at the time, and says she has spent the last 17 years coping with the negative public image the scandal gave her. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton’s life is still pretty sweet, sources say.
In the article, to be published online tomorrow, Lewinsky admits that her relationship with Clinton was consensual but charges that, after the story broke, she was made a scapegoat by the Clinton administration in order to protect the president. “The Clinton administration, the special prosecutor’s minions, the political operatives on both sides of the aisle, and the media were able to brand me,” she writes. “And that brand stuck, in part because it was imbued with power.”
Bill Clinton, who was also involved in the affair, is loved by millions of Americans, many of whom consider him one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history. He now spends most of his time traveling around the world, meeting celebrities and heads of state as a representative of the United States, and leading an all-around pretty rad life.
Lewinsky says that, after the scandal broke, she fell into a depression that left her bed-ridden and experiencing suicidal thoughts. Fueled by the likes of Matt Drudge and Maureen Dowd, media coverage of the affair—which led to her “global humiliation”—created an image that Lewinsky has found impossible to shake, she says, and which has made it difficult for her to find employment.
“I was never ‘quite right’ for the position,” Lewinsky says, thanks to “what potential employers so tactfully referred to as my ‘history.’”
Clinton, the 42nd president, is a much sought after public speaker and reportedly charges a pretty kick-ass fee of $500,000 per 45-minute speech. He has reportedly earned at least $89 million since leaving office on the lecture circuit alone.
“I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton,” Lewinsky writes in the piece. “Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened… [but it’s] time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress.”
The husband of Hilary Rodham Clinton, the presumed frontrunner in the 2016 presidential elections, Bill Clinton has been implicated in numerous other extramarital affairs—and accused of a rape—dating back to the 1970s. He is also the subject of this photo gallery, “The 20 Awesomest Photos of Bill Clinton Partying with Rock Stars.”
