Nearly three decades after the scandal broke, Monica Lewinsky is done staying quiet about what really happened.
The media crucified her while the most powerful man in America walked away with barely a scratch.
And Monica Lewinsky just admitted Bill Clinton got away with something that almost destroyed her.
Monica Lewinsky Breaks Silence on the Clinton Impeachment Double Standard
Clinton's affair with Lewinsky exploded into public view in January 1998 when she was just 24 years old.
The President had carried on sexual encounters with the White House intern between November 1995 and March 1997.
Clinton lied about it to the nation, declaring in that famous finger-wagging moment on television that he "did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."
He lied under oath during a deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case, lied to his staff and family, and lied to the American people.
When the truth finally came out through Linda Tripp's secret recordings and Kenneth Starr's investigation, Clinton faced an impeachment trial in December 1998.
The House voted to impeach him on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
But the Senate acquitted him on both counts in February 1999, and Clinton finished out his second term with his popularity intact.
Meanwhile, Lewinsky's life imploded.
She couldn't find work, faced death threats, and contemplated suicide as the media tore her apart with vicious attacks on her appearance, character, and sexuality.
Late-night comedians turned her name into a punchline while the President who exploited her was praised for his political skills.
Now Lewinsky is speaking out in an interview with The Times, saying the "public humiliation was excruciating; life was almost unbearable."
While she nearly lost everything including her will to live, Clinton "escaped a lot more than I did," she admitted.
"I haven't spoken to him in almost 30 years and I don't know what his internal landscape is," Lewinsky said.
"I think he escaped a lot more than I did."
The Abuse of Power Behind the White House Intern Scandal
Lewinsky has been clear that while the affair was technically consensual, the power dynamics made it fundamentally wrong.
Clinton was 49 years old, the President of the United States, and her boss.
She was 22, a recent college graduate, and a White House intern.
"This was a gross abuse of power. Full stop," Lewinsky stated.
"That doesn't mean I didn't make mistakes, that I didn't make wrong choices, that my behavior didn't hurt other people. But at the heart of it was a gross abuse of power."
During her February appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, Lewinsky said Clinton should have resigned when the affair became public.
"I think that the right way to handle a situation like that would have been to probably say it was nobody's business and to resign," she told host Alex Cooper.
"Or to find a way of staying in office that was not lying and not throwing a young person who is just starting out in the world under the bus."
Clinton's response after his denial blew up was to admit he'd "misled" people while parsing words about what the definition of "is" is.
He gave a brief televised address where he never said the word "sex" and only expressed "regret" for misleading his family and the public.
That was it.
No real accountability for exploiting a young woman under his authority and then watching as the media destroyed her reputation while he sailed through impeachment.
In 2018, Clinton bristled when asked if he should have resigned over the Lewinsky affair in light of the #MeToo movement.
"I dealt with it 20 years ago, plus," Clinton said on NBC's "Today Show."
"And the American people, two-thirds of them stayed with me. And I've tried to do a good job since then, and with my life and with my work. That's all I have to say."
Translation: The public approved of me, so I have nothing to apologize for.
How Bill Clinton Escaped the #MeToo Reckoning
Here's what Democrats and the media won't admit about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.
Clinton's political allies circled the wagons and Democrats in Congress protected him throughout the impeachment process.
Polls showed Clinton's approval rating hit 71% in mid-December 1998, right after the House voted to impeach him.
Only about 30% of Americans thought he should be impeached despite clear evidence of perjury and obstruction of justice.
Democrats argued that Clinton's personal misconduct had nothing to do with his ability to govern.
They dismissed concerns about a President exploiting a young intern as partisan attacks from Republicans.
The feminist movement that claimed to champion women's rights gave Clinton a pass because he supported abortion and other liberal priorities.
That same crowd now lectures everyone about "believing women" and holding powerful men accountable for abusing their positions.
But when it was their guy in the Oval Office, they were perfectly happy to let a 22-year-old woman take the fall while the man who preyed on her walked away unscathed.
Lewinsky has spent years rebuilding her life, launching her "Reclaiming" podcast in January 2025 to tell stories of people who lost their reputations and found their way back.
She's become an anti-bullying activist and worked as a producer on shows revisiting her story, finally taking control of her own narrative after decades of others defining her.
Clinton, meanwhile, continued raking in millions on the speaking circuit and basking in the praise of Democrats who treated him like a beloved elder statesman.
The double standard couldn't be more obvious.
And Lewinsky saying Clinton "escaped a lot more than I did" is one of the biggest understatements of the century.
Sources:
- Tracy Wright, "Monica Lewinsky says Bill Clinton 'escaped a lot more than I did' after White House scandal," Fox News, January 12, 2026.
- "Clinton–Lewinsky scandal," Wikipedia, December 11, 2025.
- "Clinton's impeachment barely dented his public support," Pew Research Center, April 14, 2024.
- "Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky Scandal—Timeline," TIME, May 4, 2018.
- "President Clinton impeached," History.com, May 28, 2025.
- "Monica Lewinsky says Bill Clinton should've resigned," CNN, February 26, 2025.
