The former White House intern spoke to Vanity Fair on the 20th anniversary of Kenneth Starr’s investigation into former President Bill Clinton.
She also spoke about how she does not feel alone anymore thanks to the #MeToo movement.
The infamous sex scandal between former President Bill Clinton and intern at the time Monica Lewinski made headlines all over the world.
The two were involved in a sexual relationship from 1995 to 1997.
The former President was 27 years her senior and initially denied allegations that he was engaging in an extramarital affair with Monica.
A short time after denying the affair, Bill Clinton was forced to admit to having an inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinski.
WATCH
Over 20 years later Monica reflects on that time in her life in an essay published by Vanity Fair.
“As I find myself reflecting on what happened, I’ve also come to understand how my trauma has been, in a way, a microcosm of a larger, national one”.
“Both clinically and observationally, something fundamental changed in our society in 1998, and it is changing again as we enter the second year of the Trump presidency in a post-Cosby-Ailes-O’Reilly-Weinstein-Spacey-Whoever-Is-Next world.”
“Given my PTSD and my understanding of trauma, it’s very likely that my thinking would not necessarily be changing at this time had it not been for the #MeToo movement—not only because of the new lens it has provided but also because of how it has offered new avenues toward the safety that comes from solidarity.”
Twenty years after Ken Starr’s investigation, @MonicaLewinsky reflects on the events of 1998 and why she, too, supports #MeToo https://t.co/3qwDrZV7zL
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) February 25, 2018
Monica also shared how she felt the “inappropriate abuse of authority” between her and Clinton, who was 49 years old at the time the sexual relationship began.
“I now see how problematic it was that the two of us even got to a place where there was a question of consent”.
“Instead, the road that led there was littered with inappropriate abuse of authority, station, and privilege.”
She explained that watching other women speak out about being victimised has helped her and how silence helped these men abuse their power.
“Pernicious conspiracies of silence that have long protected powerful men when it comes to sexual assault, sexual harassment, and abuse of power”.
“Through all of this, during the past several months, I have been repeatedly reminded of a powerful Mexican proverb: “They tried to bury us; they didn’t know we were seeds”.
She concluded the powerful essay by writing,
“Spring has finally sprung.”
