Monica Lewinsky, the famed White House intern known worldwide for her sexual dalliances with former President Bill Clinton, says she’s tired of living in the shadows of her past and wants all to know: Her affair was “consensual,” she said.
Ms. Lewinsky wrote an exclusive essay for Vanity Fair that’s due for digital publication on Thursday in which she shared her thoughts of her affair.
“[T]hanks to the Drudge Report, I was also possibly the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet,” she said, the Huffington Post reported. But, she said, she now wants to tell her story to “be able to help others in their darkest moments of humiliation,” she said.
Ms. Lewinsky also wrote: “[It’s] time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress,” in reference to the infamous dress with the stain she refused to have dry-cleaned after one of her encounters with the president. And she insisted that even though Mr. Clinton was her boss — and a high-powered one at that — their sexual escapades were completely consensual.
“Sure, my boss took advantage of me,” she wrote, excerpts published on USA Today’s website stated. “But I will always remain firm on this point: It was a consensual relationship. Any ’abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position. … 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. And that brand stuck, in part because it was imbued with power.”
Ms. Lewinski, now 40, said she’s suffered in her career since the affair, and has faced challenging job interviews and offers that would have netted her “more than $10 million,” but she’s turned them down for various reasons.
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• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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