Monica Lewinsky calls out Bill Clinton—because accountability shouldn’t be optional
History repeatedly shows that men in power are forgiven for their past mistakes while women are judged harshly for the rest of their lives and beyond. Julius Caesar’s legacy is that of a brilliant leader, while Cleopatra is reduced to an evil temptress. Monica Lewinsky knows this phenomenon well and discussed it on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast.
In 1995, Lewinsky, a 22-year-old intern at the White House, embarked on an almost two-year affair with married President Bill Clinton, which came to light in 1998. Lewinsky was used as a pawn in a political scheme to take the commander-in-chief down.
When the truth came out, instead of coming clean, Clinton doubled down and lied to the American people to protect his legacy. Ultimately, he was impeached by the House of Representatives, acquitted in 1999, and allowed to finish out his second term. Much like Cleopatra, Lewinsky was painted as a villain in the story.
Lewinsky believes the revelation should have been handled differently. On the podcast, she said, “I think that the right way to handle a situation like that would have been to probably say it was nobody’s business and to resign, or to find a way of staying in office that was not lying and not throwing a young person who is just starting out in the world under the bus,” she mused. “At the same time, I’m hearing myself say that, and it’s like, ‘OK, but we’re also talking about the most powerful office in the world.’ I don’t want to be naïve either.”
While Clinton was allowed to become a respected elder statesman after he served as president, Monica was the butt of jokes and struggled to find her place in the world. Afterward, she even considered changing her name on her resume, but knew she would be recognized eventually in an interview. She designed handbags, worked as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig, and did a stint as a television personality.
She got her master’s in psychology from the London School of Economics and stayed out of the public eye for 10 years. In 2014, she burst back into the scene as a contributing editor with Vanity Fair and became an advocate for those who experience cyberbullying. After working as a producer on Impeachment: American Crime Story, she started a production company in 2021. In 2025, she launched a podcast called “Reclaiming.”
Beyond her professional life, the affair negatively impacted her romantic pursuits. “I was somebody who had wanted to get married and have kids, and I’m sort of past that point of having kids naturally, so I think that was a focus for a long time, but it was definitely, my dating life has been complicated, I think, at times,” she explained on the podcast. This complication followed her to the bedroom.
“There’s a wide spectrum of like how intimacy goes after something like this, and it’s like, I mean, thankfully, no one’s ever asked me to wear a beret in the bedroom, but I mean, there have been, it’s complicated,” she mused. “I think the comfort level of really feeling like you can own your own sexuality fully can be one layer that many of us go through when you add on the way I was sexualized and humiliated around sex. It makes it more complicated.”
While Clinton has been given grace, Lewinsky has been forced to work hard to overcome her past. She hopes others can learn from her story and find their worth, even if they have not always been perfect. “Even though I will always be defined in some way by my history, I am also defined by my present,” Lewinsky stated.
By embracing her public figure status, perhaps Lewinsky’s story can help create a societal shift. It takes two people to have an affair, and women shouldn’t have to bear the burden of blame alone.
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