It’s been 20 years since former President Bill Clinton’s affair with 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky came to light. In those two decades, Lewinsky has gone from a political punchline to anti-bullying advocate.
The affair between Clinton and Lewinsky was first reported by media outlets in January of 1998, but Clinton didn’t admit having an “inappropriate relationship” with Lewinsky until that August, when he apologized for what he called “a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible.”
Though Clinton was a popular president even at the height of the scandal, during which he was impeached but not removed from office, and his reputation has largely recovered.
But Lewinsky, now 44, has said she was bullied and slut-shamed by the media for years after the affair was made public. She was portrayed as a ditz on Saturday Night Live, while late-night hosts made sexual jokes at her expense. The New York Times’ columnist Maureen Dowd called her “a ditsy, predatory White House intern who might have lied under oath for a job at Revlon.” The Wall Street Journal labeled her a “little tart,” while the New York Post opted for “portly pepperpot.” Fox News ran a poll asking whether Lewinsky was an “average girl” or “young tramp looking for thrills,” with 54% rating her as a tramp.
Now, 20 years later, with the anniversary falling amid a nationwide conversation about sexual harassment in the workplace, public opinion about Lewinsky is changing too. Lewinsky hasn’t shied away from addressing the affair in recent years, either. In a March essay for Vanity Fair, she said the #MeToo movement forced her to re-examine her relationship with Clinton. This week, she ribbed Republican Sen. Marco Rubio on Twitter for “blaming the intern” for an article he didn’t like.
Here’s how Lewinsky responded to the backlash and emerged from the scandal over the past two decades, and what she’s doing now.
Read more : http://www.time.com/5130921/monica-lewinsky-now/
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