Monica Lewinsky breaks media silence years after Bill Clinton affair scandal

40-year-old Monica Lewinsky said that she deeply regrets the affair, which led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

16:08 07 May 2014

Monica Lewinsky, the one-time White House intern who had affair with President Bill Clinton, has broken her decade-long media silence. In Vanity Fair magazine, the 40-year-old said that she regrets the fling and described how she suffered the consequences. 

 

She wrote: "I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton.” 

 

Echoing Clinton's infamous slowly paced denial to the media, she said: "Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened."

 

Although she admitted that the affair was consensual, she claims that the president “took advantage" of her. 

 

"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," she wrote.

 

"And that brand stuck, in part because it was imbued with power."

After the scandal, Lewinsky worked briefly as a handbag designer and as a host of a US reality dating show. She then moved to London for a graduate degree. 

 

However, she said that she finds it very difficult to secure a job in the United States because of her past. 

 

Republicans used the affair to impeach Clinton in 1998. However, all efforts failed and the president finished his term in 2000. 

 

Lewinsky is adamant to finally 'give a purpose' to her past: "Perhaps by sharing my story, I reasoned, I might be able to help others in their darkest moments of humiliation."

 

Lewinsky now plans "to get involved with efforts on behalf of victims of online humiliation and harassment and to start speaking on this topic in public forums".