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Monica Lewinsky says Bill Clinton 'should want to apologize' in TODAY exclusive

Lewinsky said she wasn't sure how she'd feel about the former president watching the show she co-produced about the scandal.
/ Source: TODAY

In an exclusive interview with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie, Monica Lewinsky opened up about how she felt in the wake of her sex scandal with former president Bill Clinton.

Lewinsky, who joined the show to discuss her role as a producer on "American Crime Story: Impeachment," which dramatizes the incident, reflected on not being able to have any closure with Clinton.

"There was a long period, before my life changed in the last six or seven years, where I felt a lot in terms of there not being this resolution," Lewinsky said. "I'm very grateful that I don't have that feeling anymore. I don't need it."

"He should want to apologize in the same way I want to apologize any chance I get to people my actions have hurt," Lewinsky continued.

Lewinsky, who said she made notes on scripts and offered suggestions for the FX miniseries, added that she wasn't sure how she'd feel about Clinton watching the show.

"Would you want Bill Clinton to see this series?" Savannah asked.

"I don't even know how to really answer that," Lewinsky said.

Lewinsky said that it's been difficult watching a fictionalized version of her early-20s self make decisions that would impact the rest of her life.

Beanie Fieldstein plays Monica Lewinsky on "American Crime Story: Impeachment."
Beanie Fieldstein plays Monica Lewinsky on "American Crime Story: Impeachment." Tina Thorpe / FX

"I do not recommend watching your early 20s be dramatized on TV," Lewinsky quipped. "Especially in this instance where the truth really was stranger than fiction. (There were) moments where I just thought, 'Don't smile back. Don't talk to her. Don't confess. Don't do this, don't do that. Don't make bad decisions.' I think that that was really hard to see."

Lewinsky added that she believes people would react to the scandal differently today.

"I don’t know that it would be as different as people want to think it would be," Lewinsky explained. "But we are having conversations about power differentials in different ways. It’s not just people in power who have voices. The beauty and the beast of social media is more people can be heard. I might have had a little bit of support."

While there were moments of the show that were hard to work on, Lewinsky said it felt important to know that, as a producer, she was making decisions that were best for the show, even if it involved revealing parts of the story that she would've preferred stay private.

"It was challenging, to wear different hats," Lewinsky said.

One notable moment that Lewinsky insisted on including was when she flashed her underwear at Clinton. Lewinsky said that she pushed for it, even though she was at first "incredibly grateful" to see the scene wasn't there.

"You realize as a producer that, particularly because I was involved, that the credibility of the show would have been significantly affected, and I didn't think that was fair to anyone else," Lewinsky said. "But more than that, it was really, 'I shouldn't get a pass.' ... I thought that was important. I think truth and context were really missing in the beginning of 1998 throughout the process, and I hope those are all things that we brought to the show."

For Lewinsky, it's all part of making the series as honest as possible.

"It is a dramatization, but there is an enormous amount of emotional truth, and I think that's what was really important," she said. "I think a lot of people know about this story, but people are going to be very surprised when they watch it, at things they didn't know happened."

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