Monica Lewinsky, the most famous White House intern in history, has stayed silent for 10 years, thanks to a sex scandal that rocked the nation.
Last month, Lewinsky wrote in a Vanity Fair essay that it was “time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress.” Next up, she will appear as part of a National Geographic special, “The 90s: The Last Great Decade?” in her first interview since 2003.
“I was the most humiliated woman in the world,” she said, referring to the day salacious details about her affair with former President Clinton were revealed in a 445-page report by special prosecutor Kenneth Starr. The first of the three-part National Geographic special debuts this Sunday.
Lewinsky, now 40, opens up in the interview about moving past the affair that nearly took down a presidency.
On the release of the Starr report:
- “That was one of the worst days of my life. I was a virgin to humiliation of that level, until that day."
- “To have my narrative ripped from me, and turned into the Starr report, and things that were turned over or things they delved out of my computer that I thought were deleted. I mean it was just violation after violation."
On media coverage at the time:
- “To be called stupid, and a slut, and a bimbo, and ditzy, and to be taken out of context, it was excruciating.”
- “To be in the vortex of this media maelstrom was quite alarming, and frightening. And confusing. I think a lot, too, had to do with the fact that I was a woman."
From Brian Williams:
- "There were nights, because I had young children and I was a parent first, where I called home and just said, 'maybe this is a good night to mute the first part of the broadcast or keep the television off.'"
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