Monica Lewinsky has totally reclaimed her narrative. The activist and author (who also added the title "producer" to her list of accomplishments) opened up in an exclusive interview on Today in September 2021, about what that feels like, and she was all smiles.
Monica sat down with Savannah Guthrie to talk about the new dramatic series, Impeachment: American Crime Story, and she didn't hold back. Monica said she was nervous because "live TV," but also because she's the subject of the new, highly anticipated series.
As a producer, she says she's extremely proud of the project, though, and she's so happy she got to have such an important role in working on it, thanks to director Ryan Murphy. It was his mission to make sure that the public saw another side of the presidential sex scandal that shook America. Because of his dedication to telling the story in a way that reflects Monica's perspective, she said she feels there is "an enormous amount of emotional truth" to the series.
According to Monica, that's exactly what we're going to get — at least, she hopes so. She wants people to be able to look at the scandal through a different lens this time around. Still, she said she is nervous because a lot of what we will see in the series really happened, even what she calls "cringe-worthy" moments from her 20s.
While Monica became the butt of so many jokes over the years, since the Me Too movement began people have really begun to reexamine the story. Monica was a 22-year-old intern when her affair with then-President Bill Clinton occurred. She was once looked at as the cause of the scandal, but more recently, people have started to see her as a powerful man's victim.
But Monica isn't really interested in what anyone thinks of her these days. And she's not worried about the Clintons, either. She told The New York Times, "It just doesn't impact me the same way, you know?" when asked about the couple. "They don't loom nearly as large as they did for two decades in my life."
She comes off as not only happy but extremely empowered. In the past couple of years, she's really carved out a new path for herself, much of which has been driven by her past pain. She created a powerful anti-bullying campaign, wrote a memoir, and now is a producer.
It is likely because she is in such a great place, and has now had the opportunity to help reframe her story, that she doesn't need anything from the man who made her infamous: Bill Clinton. When Savannah Guthrie asked Monica if she believed he should apologize to her, she responded that, truthfully, she doesn't need that.
"I think there was a long period before my life changed the past six or seven years where I felt a lot in terms of there not being this resolution," she said. "And 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 that I want to apologize any chance I get to the people that I've hurt and my actions have hurt."
Monica also has a new documentary called 15 Minutes of Shame that examines cancel culture. That project strives to open up the conversation surrounding public shaming by pulling from her own experience.
Impeachment premieres tonight on FX.
