It’s been more than 20 years since Monica Lewinsky’s affair with Bill Clinton and she’s tired of hearing it. When an interviewer asked an ‘off limits’ question about the former president, Monica cut the talk short and left the stage!
“Recently, in an interview…former president [Bill] Clinton was rather irate when he was asked if he apologized to you personally,” Israeli TV news anchor Yonit Levi said to Monica Lewinsky, 45 during a conference in Jerusalem on Sept. 3, per CNN. “He said, ‘I apologized publicly.’ Do you still expect that apology, that personal apology?” Monica’s reply left everyone shook. She first apologized — “I’m not going to be able to do this” — before dropping the mic. She then left the stage!
What happened? Turns out, Monica was furious that the Hadashot News personality had asked that question, even though Monica said the former president was not up for discussion. “After a talk today on the perils and positives of the Internet, there was to be a 15 minute conversation to follow up on the subject of my speech (not a news interview),” Monica said in a statement she posted to Twitter afterward. “There were clear parameters about what we would be discussing and what we would not. In fact, the exact question the interviewer asked first, she had put to me when we met the day prior. I said that was off limits.”
“When she asked me it on stage, with blatant disregard for our agreement, it became clear to me I had been misled,” Monica added. “I left because it is more important than ever for women to stand up for themselves and not allow others to control their narrative. To the audience: I’m very sorry that this talk had to end this way.”
Hadashot News defended its interviewer, saying it had “stood up to all of its agreements with Ms. Lewinsky and honored her requests,” in a statement. “We believe the question asked on stage was legitimate and respectful, and one that certainly does not go beyond Ms. Lewinsky’s requests and does not cross the line.”
For those who need a refresher: Monica and the then-president Clinton had an affair in the late 1990s when she was a White House intern. The scandal eventually resulted in his impeachment in 1998 and the graphic details of the scandal — particularly the use of cigars and a stained blue dress — turned Monica into a national punchline.
After the scandal broke in 1998, Monica “was shunned from almost every community which I belonged to, including my religious community. That led to some very dark times for me,” she said, per The Jerusalem Post. She recalled how she “want(ed) to die…there were moments for me when it seemed like suicide was the only way to end the pain and the ridicule.” After being humiliated on a grand scale, it’s understandable why Monica would want to her affair with Bill Clinton way, way behind her.
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