Monica Lewinsky
Today she is stronger than ever
Monica Lewinsky
© Picture Alliance
Once hostile as the “president’s seductress,” it helps Monica Lewinsky now another woman with a dramatic past: Amanda Knox.
“At 22, I fell in love with my boss. And at 24, I learned the devastating consequences,” says Monica Lewinsky. In 1997, after her affair with then US President Bill Clinton, she inadvertently became the “nation’s intern.” Laughed at, persecuted, hostile and, yes, labeled a “slut.” A process that would probably no longer be possible today in “MeToo” times, but which almost destroyed Monica Lewinsky back then. But she regained her fighting spirit and is now back in America, stronger than ever. She regained sovereignty over her life primarily with a documentary: “Impeachment: American Crime Story,” was the title of the three-part series in 2020 in which she dealt with the entire scandal. “I wanted to tell my story and no longer let others interpret it.”
Monica Lewinsky: She wants to help other women
She now wants to give Amanda Knox, 36, this chance. The US exchange student who was accused of murdering a roommate in Perugia, Italy, in 2007. The crime caused a worldwide sensation, as did the court proceedings. Amanda and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted and acquitted several times. A drama that lasted until 2015 and about which Amanda Knox says today: “Not only am I traumatized, but everyone close to me is also suffering.”
She goes down in judicial history as an “angel with ice eyes”. In her new life, Amanda Knox is now married, has a two-year-old daughter and works as a cultural critic. She feels that being able to film her fate alongside Monica Lewinsky is a victory for women. Monica Lewinsky herself, who founded her own company “Alt Ending Productions” in 2021, is also very excited about the project and announces a “strong series” about “another young woman whose life was torn apart on the world stage, but who somehow made it managed to survive.” She and Amanda Knox have now become friends.
“I wasn’t perceived as a person with feelings”
The experience that their lives turned 180 degrees from one day to the next, that they were at the center of a media whirlwind and that the public quickly formed an opinion, brings the women together. “Monica and Amanda have become very close, they are in almost constant contact,” says an employee of the Lewinsky company. “They have a lot in common and support each other.” Both see themselves as victims. Amanda because of the years of sloppy investigations, Monica because of the political calculations. Because while she was humiliated in an investigative committee and had to publicly show her dress, which had traces of Clinton’s sperm on it, the president emerged from the affair almost unscathed and kept his office and his wife Hillary.
Monica Lewinsky was considered a seductress who also wanted to profit from her story when she gave interviews and launched a handbag collection. She later said that she suffered from the spotlight at that time. She urgently needed money for the legal bills. Now she uses the attention that her name still attracts for great causes, fights against cyber bullying and is a successful speaker. “I wasn’t perceived as a person with feelings,” said Monica Lewinsky. She believed in a real relationship with Bill Clinton when she met him secretly, talked to him on the phone for hours, and exchanged small gifts with him. Today she shakes her head at this naivety. But also about the “gross abuse of power.” She will never forget this time. But from today’s perspective, she can use her experience to help other women who are seen as perpetrators, although in reality they are victims.