--- title: Monica Lewinsky Scandal History: Why President Clinton Denied It description: Insight from TIME's Feb. 9, 1998, special report canonical: https://time.com/3677042/clinton-lewinsky-response/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-26T16:00:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:45:36.419Z article:section: History og:title: Monica Lewinsky Scandal History: Why President Clinton Denied It og:description: Insight from TIME's Feb. 9, 1998, special report og:url: https://time.com/3677042/clinton-lewinsky-response/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb271f5413c034f7/69877b20cd684860490993e4/clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: William J. Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Monica Lewinsky Scandal History: Why President Clinton Denied It twitter:description: Insight from TIME's Feb. 9, 1998, special report twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb271f5413c034f7/69877b20cd684860490993e4/clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Story Behind Bill Clinton's Infamous Denial  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 26, 2015 4:00 PM UTC  Pres. Bill Clinton in somber portrait at White House childcare event during which he denied having an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, on Jan. 26, 1998 Pres. Bill Clinton in somber portrait at White House childcare event during which he denied having an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, on Jan. 26, 1998Diana Walker—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 26, 2015 4:00 PM UTC It was on this day in 1998 that President Bill Clinton (as seen around 6:18 in the video above) uttered 11 words that would go down in history: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky.” Though the definition of “sexual relations” — and [other phrases ](http://www.slate.com/articles/news%5Fand%5Fpolitics/chatterbox/1998/09/bill%5Fclinton%5Fand%5Fthe%5Fmeaning%5Fof%5Fis.html)— may be questioned, even in hindsight, Clinton did eventually end up [admitting to an affair](http://time.com/vault/issue/1998-08-31/page/1/). So why did he say those 11 words in the first place? One possible explanation can be found in the [Feb. 9, 1998, TIME special report](http://time.com/vault/issue/1998-02-09/spread/26/) that explored the impact of that speech: --- > “” --- **_Read more about the semantics of the statement, here in the TIME Vault:_** [When Is Sex Not ‘Sexual Relations’?](http://time.com/vault/issue/1998-08-24/page/34/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3677042/clinton-lewinsky-response/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3677042/clinton-lewinsky-response/"},"headline":"The Story Behind Bill Clinton's Infamous Denial","datePublished":"2015-01-26T16:00:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:45:36.419Z","description":"Insight from TIME's Feb. 9, 1998, special report","url":"https://time.com/3677042/clinton-lewinsky-response/","keywords":["White House","politics","Scandal"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb271f5413c034f7/69877b20cd684860490993e4/clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb271f5413c034f7/69877b20cd684860490993e4/clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"William J. 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