MONICA LEWINSKY BREAKS SILENCE: THE PRESIDENT "TOOK ADVANTAGE" OF HER

Monica Lewinsky, am sure the name rings  a bell. This the lady former president Bill Clinton had an affair with while he was the president. This is the first time Monica is coming out openly to speak about the affair since 1999. Monica who is now 40 years old, wrote in Vanity Fair magazine that she deeply regrets her actions. See full details below.


In an advance excerpt from the article released by Vanity Fair, Ms Lewinsky writes she hopes to reclaim her story and says she is still recognised every day and sees her name thrown about in pop culture and the news media.

The president "took advantage" of her, she writes, though she describes their relationship as consensual.

"I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton," she writes.
"Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened."
Ms Lewinsky writes that she suffered abuse and humiliation after the scandal broke in 1998, in part because she was made a "scapegoat" to protect the president.

"The Clinton administration, the special prosecutor's minions, the political operatives on both sides of the aisle, and the media were able to brand me," she wrote.

"And that brand stuck, in part because it was imbued with power."

Since leaving the Clinton administration, she worked briefly as a handbag designer and as the host of a US reality dating show.

Ms Lewinsky then moved to London for a graduate degree, but said she has had difficulty gaining employment in the US because of her past.

Ms Monica and Bill Clinton

Arguing Mr Clinton had lied to federal investigators about his relationship with Ms Lewinsky, who was in her early 20s, the Republicans in the House of Representatives impeached the president, essentially bringing him up on charges in the Senate to determine whether he could be expelled from office.

That effort failed, and Mr Clinton served in the White House until his term ended in 2000.

Mr Clinton "took advantage of a girl that was 20-years-old and an intern in his office", he added. "There is no excuse for that and that is predatory behaviour."

In her piece, Ms Lewinsky signals that her desire in breaking her silence after so many years is to "give a purpose" to her past.

"Perhaps by sharing my story, I reasoned, I might be able to help others in their darkest moments of humiliation," she writes.

Ms Lewinsky now aims "to get involved with efforts on behalf of victims of online humiliation and harassment and to start speaking on this topic in public forums".