--- description: Monica Lewinsky has become a vocal anti-bullying advocate in the over 20 years since her affair with Bill Clinton was made public. title: Here's What Monica Lewinsky Is Doing Now image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd516d82b5ae8dffd/6988fa6ffb4eac9cad8958a0/monica-lewinsky.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Living](/tag/time-section-living/) ## Living Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's What Monica Lewinsky Is Doing Now  by [Samantha Cooney](/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:22 PM CUTPublished: May 4, 2018 4:00 PM CUT  LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 27: Activist and honoree Monica Lewinsky arrives at TLC's Give A Little Awards at NeueHouse Hollywood on September 27, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images,) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 27: Activist and honoree Monica Lewinsky arrives at TLC's Give A Little Awards at NeueHouse Hollywood on September 27, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images,)Amanda Edwards—Getty Images,  by [Samantha Cooney](/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:22 PM CUTPublished: May 4, 2018 4:00 PM CUT It’s been over 20 years since former President Bill Clinton’s [affair](http://time.com/3677042/clinton-lewinsky-response/ "undefined") with 22-year-old White House intern [Monica Lewinsky](http://time.com/92989/monica-lewinsky-slut-shaming-feminists-media-apology/ "undefined") came to light. In those two decades, Lewinsky has gone from a political punchline to anti-bullying advocate. Now, she’ll be helping to retell her story as a producer on Ryan Murphy’s [forthcoming TV series on Clinton’s impeachment](https://time.com/5646084/american-crime-story-clinton-lewinsky/ "undefined"). The affair between Clinton and Lewinsky was [first reported](http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2002/01/17/20020117%5F175502%5Fml.htm "undefined") by [media outlets](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clinton012198.htm "undefined") in January of 1998, but Clinton didn’t admit having an [“inappropriate relationship”](https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/this-day-in-politics-aug-17-1998-226998 "undefined") with Lewinsky until that August, when he [apologized](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1913028%5F1913030%5F1913103,00.html "undefined") for what he [called](http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/08/17/speech/transcript.html "undefined") “a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible.”  A photograph showing former White House intern Monica Lewinsky meeting President Bill Clinton at a White House function submitted as evidence in documents by the Starr investigation and released by the House Judiciary committee September 21, 1998. Getty Images—Getty Images Though Clinton was a popular president even at the [height of the scandal](http://news.gallup.com/poll/4609/presidential-job-approval-bill-clintons-high-ratings-midst.aspx "undefined"), during which he was impeached but not removed from office, and his reputation has largely [recovered](https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/06/15/poll-bill-clinton-most-admired-president-of-last-25-years/ "undefined"). But Lewinsky, now 46, has said she was bullied and [slut-shamed](http://time.com/92989/monica-lewinsky-slut-shaming-feminists-media-apology/ "undefined") by the media for years after the affair was made public. She was [portrayed](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/bill-and-saddam-cold-open/n11087?snl=1 "undefined") as a [ditz on ](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/linda-tripp-monica-lewinsky-cold-opening/n11077?snl=1 "undefined")_Saturday Night Live,_ while [late-night hosts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ1If6pKVnM "undefined") made [sexual jokes at her expense](https://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/bill-maher-monica-lewinsky-106547 "undefined"). The New York _Times’_ columnist Maureen Dowd [called](http://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/08/opinion/liberties-the-price-of-his-pleasure.html "undefined") her “a ditsy, predatory White House intern who might have lied under oath for a job at Revlon.” The Wall Street _Journal_ [labeled](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/page/ct-page-monica-lewinsky-perspec-0325-20150324-column.html "undefined") her a “little tart,” while the New York _Post_ opted for “[portly pepperpot](https://pagesix.com/2014/10/20/monica-lewinsky-i-was-in-love-with-president-clinton/ "undefined").” Fox News [ran a poll](http://time.com/92989/monica-lewinsky-slut-shaming-feminists-media-apology/ "undefined") asking whether Lewinsky was an “average girl” or “young tramp looking for thrills,” with 54% rating her as a tramp. Public opinion about Lewinsky is changing too. The 20th anniversary of Clinton’s impeachment in 2018 fell amid a [nationwide conversation about sexual harassment in the workplace](https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers/ "undefined"). In an essay for the March 2018 issue of _Vanity Fair_, [Lewinsky said that the #MeToo movement](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/monica-lewinsky-in-the-age-of-metoo "undefined") prompted her to begin to grapple with the power dynamics at play in her relationship with Clinton. In a June 4, 2018, interview, NBC’s Craig Melvin asked Clinton whether he owed Lewinsky an apology in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Clinton said he did not, adding that he apologized publicly but never reached out to her personally. “No. I have never talked to her. But I did say publicly on more than one occasion that I was sorry. That’s very different,” Clinton said. “The apology was public.” > [](https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1003597900562214912) Here’s how Lewinsky responded to the backlash and emerged from the scandal over the past two decades, and what she’s doing now. ## **Lewinsky said she had been “unfairly” portrayed** In a [March 1999 interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpCv-UT2yCU "undefined"), Barbara Walters noted that Lewinsky had been described as a “bimbo, a stalker, a seductress.” When asked to describe herself, Lewinsky said she was “very loving, I’m very loyal, I think I’m intelligent … I think I certainly feel that I have been misportrayed in the past year, and unfairly so.” Later that year, author Andrew Morton [published _Monica’s Story_](http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/04/reviews/990404.04oresket.html "undefined"), a biography of the former White House intern based on interviews with Lewinsky. “It’s the story of how an emotionally needy young woman sought to assuage her low self-esteem with eating binges and affairs with unavailable men,” the New York _Times’_ Michiko Kakutani [wrote in a review](http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/28/daily/030599lewinsky-book-review.html "undefined") of the book. As the scandal faded from the headlines, Lewinsky kept her head down. According to a 2001 interview with _New York_ Magazine, Lewinsky [moved to New York City](http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/4481/ "undefined") and started running a handbag company. She said that it was difficult for her to find a job, telling the [magazine:](http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/4481/index2.html "undefined") “People aren’t jumping to hire me.” She moved to London in 2005 and began working on her Master’s degree in social psychology at the London School of Economics. Her former publicist [told TIME in 2009](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870544%5F1870543%5F1870550,00.html "undefined") that she was trying to avoid publicity. ## **Lewinsky re-emerged with a powerful essay**  Monica Lewinsky arrives at the TrevorLIVE Los Angeles benefit event at the Hollywood Palladium on December 7, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. Amanda Edwards—WireImage In 2014, Lewinsky [wrote an essay](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/society/2014/06/monica-lewinsky-humiliation-culture "undefined") for _Vanity Fair_, detailing her life after the affair and the public humiliation she endured. She said that she tried to look for jobs after graduating from the London School of Economics, but she was always turned away because of her past. “Me, America’s B.J. Queen. That Intern. That Vixen. Or, in the inescapable phrase of our 42nd president, ‘That Woman,’ Lewinsky wrote. “It may surprise you to learn that I’m actually a person.” But she said that she found a purpose when she heard about the death of Tyler Clementi, who [jumped off a bridge](http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2109293,00.html "undefined") in September 2010 after his college roommate allegedly released a video of him having sex with another man. She said that Clementi’s death gave her own suffering a new meaning, as she realized that her example might help others get through the experience of being humiliated. “I would never be so presumptuous as to equate my own story with Tyler Clementi’s. After all, my public humiliation had been the result of my involvement with a world-renowned public figure—that is, a consequence of my own poor choices,” she wrote. “I wished I had been able to say to him that I knew a little of how it might have felt for him to be exposed before the world. And, as hard as it is to imagine surviving it, it is possible.” ## **Lewinsky became an advocate** Lewinsky, who has [called herself](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/10/monica-lewinsky-speaks-out-against-cyberbullying-in-new-psa "undefined") the “first \[non-public personality\] to have my identity and reputation savaged by the virality of the Web” has become an outspoken anti-cyberbullying advocate. In March 2015, she gave a [powerful TED Talk](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31976567 "undefined") about cyberbullying, receiving a standing ovation. In June 2015, she [announced](http://people.com/celebrity/monica-lewinsky-joins-bystander-revolution/ "undefined") she would become a strategic advisor for anti-bullying organization [Bystander Revolution](http://www.bystanderrevolution.org/ "undefined"). She’s since launched an [anti-cyberbullying emoji initiative](http://time.com/4212126/monica-lewinsky-anti-cyberbullying-emojis/ "undefined") and unveiled an [anti-bullying PSA.](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/10/monica-lewinsky-speaks-out-against-cyberbullying-in-new-psa "undefined") ## **Lewinsky received a few apologies** In her 2014 _Vanity Fair_ essay, Lewinsky, who has always said that her relationship with Clinton was consensual, noted that she didn’t receive much support from feminists at the height of the scandal. “Given the issues at play—gender politics, sex in the workplace — you’d think they would have spoken up,” Lewinsky wrote. “It also didn’t help that my case was not one of conventional ‘sexual harassment.'” As Barbara Ehrenreich [noted](http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/02/time/ehrenreich.html "undefined") in a 1998 TIME op-ed, few prominent feminists spoke up in defense of Lewinsky, perhaps because of their support of President Clinton’s politics. _The Feminine Mystique_ author Betty Friedan [called](http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jun/04/opinion/op-37200/3 "undefined") her “some little twerp.” In the years since, however, some who kept silent have expressed regret. For example, during a [1998 panel discussion](http://observer.com/1998/02/new-york-supergals-love-that-naughty-prez/ "undefined"), several prominent women criticized and poked fun at Lewinsky — including _Fear of Flying_ author Erica Jong, who in 2015 [apologized](https://www.thedailybeast.com/erica-jong-apologizes-to-monica-lewinsky "undefined") for making critical comments about Lewinsky. And it hasn’t just been women: Comic Bill Maher said in 2014 that he [“literally felt guilty”](https://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/bill-maher-monica-lewinsky-106547 "undefined") about his jokes about Lewinsky, and David Letterman [said](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-david-letterman-expresses-monica-lewinsky-regret-to-barbara-walters-20140515-story.html "undefined") in 2014 he felt bad about making “relentless jokes about the poor woman.” ## **Lewinsky took on new relevance**  Writer Monica Lewinsky attends the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Graydon Carter at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Dave M. Benett/VF17/WireImage) Dave M. Benett/VF17—WireImage Some have viewed the case as particularly relevant amid the #MeToo movement. For example, in November 2017, Pulitzer Prize winner Kathleen Parker wrote in a column for the Washington _Post_ that Clinton — not Lewinsky — was [at fault for the affair](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-is-all-bill-clintons-fault/2017/11/03/ee16c574-c0df-11e7-97d9-bdab5a0ab381%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.612b6464a4bf "undefined"). “It doesn’t matter if Lewinsky, then 21, pursued the president and ‘knew’ what she was doing,” Parker wrote. “Obviously, given the long-term effects of this episode on her life, she didn’t.” A spokesperson for Lewinsky told TIME in 2018 that she wasn’t available for interview. In October 2017, Lewinsky tweeted [#MeToo](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers/ "undefined") — the hashtag millions of people used to indicate that they had experienced sexual harassment and assault. It was unclear what specifically Lewinsky was referring to in her tweet. > [](https://twitter.com/MonicaLewinsky/status/919732300862181377) In an [essay for _Vanity Fair’s_](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/monica-lewinsky-in-the-age-of-metoo "undefined") March 2018 issue, Lewinsky said the [#MeToo movement](http://time.com/tag/metoo/ "undefined") made her begin to grapple with the power dynamics at play in her relationship with Clinton. “Now, at 44, I’m beginning (just beginning) to consider the implications of the power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern. I’m beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance the idea of consent might well be rendered moot,” she wrote. “But it’s also complicated. Very, very complicated.” “But I know one thing for certain: part of what has allowed me to shift is knowing I’m not alone anymore,” she added. “And for that I am grateful.” In recent years, Lewinsky has participated in pop culture’s re-examination of the relationship. She sat for interviews for the A&E docuseries [_The Clinton Affair,_](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monica-lewinsky-shares-the-emotional-toll-of-clinton-affair/ "undefined") which aired in November 2018\. On Aug. 6, Lewinsky announced that she signed on to produce the upcoming season of [Murphy](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2019/5567854/ryan-murphy/ "undefined")‘s acclaimed _American Crime Story_, which will be centered on the Clinton impeachment. Murphy had previously said he would [only do the show with Lewinsky’s participation](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/ryan-murphy-american-crime-story-future-scrapping-monica-lewinsky-season-1099146 "undefined"). Beanie Feldstein will play Lewinsky in the series. “People have been co-opting and telling my part in this story for decades,” Lewinsky [told _Vanity Fair_](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/08/american-crime-story-impeachment-bill-clinton-monica-lewinsky-producing-statement-beanie-feldstein "undefined") on Aug. 6\. “In fact, it wasn’t until the past few years that I’ve been fully able to reclaim my narrative.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5130921/monica-lewinsky-now/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5130921/monica-lewinsky-now/"},"headline":"Here's What Monica Lewinsky Is Doing Now","datePublished":"2018-05-04T16:00:33.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T22:22:05.000Z","description":"She's an anti-bullying advocate","url":"https://time.com/5130921/monica-lewinsky-now/","keywords":["Living","feminism","politics","White House","Monica Lewinsky","Bill Clinton"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd516d82b5ae8dffd/6988fa6ffb4eac9cad8958a0/monica-lewinsky.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd516d82b5ae8dffd/6988fa6ffb4eac9cad8958a0/monica-lewinsky.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TLC's Give A Little Awards - Arrivals","caption":"TLC's Give A Little Awards - Arrivals","creditText":"Amanda Edwards—Getty Images,","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5130921/monica-lewinsky-now/","name":"Here's What Monica Lewinsky Is Doing Now"}}]}] ```