Lewinsky participated in Clinton series so what happened to her ‘never happens to another young person in our country again’

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Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky says she participated in a new documentary series about the Clinton impeachment proceedings so what happened to her “never happens to another young person in our country again.”

The Vanity Fair contributor, in a piece published Tuesday, writes that she “agonized” over whether to participate in the A&E series detailing the investigation of her relationship with then-President Clinton that led to an impeachment vote in December of 1998. 

{mosads}“I may not like everything that has been put in the series or left out, but I like that the perspective is being shaped by women,” Lewinsky says. “Yes, the process of filming has been exceedingly painful.”

“But I hope that by participating, by telling the truth about a time in my life — a time in our history— I can help ensure that what happened to me never happens to another young person in our country again,” she adds. 

Lewinsky writes that she often felt depressed while filming the documentary and later realized during therapy sessions that depression she was feeling might have been grief.

“Grief for the pain I caused others. Grief for the broken young woman I had been before and during my time in D.C., and the shame I still felt around that. Grief for having been betrayed first by someone I thought was my friend, and then by a man I thought had cared for me,” Lewinsky writes.

“Grief for a relationship that had no normal closure, and instead was slowly dismantled by two decades of Bill Clinton’s behavior that eventually (eventually!) helped me understand how, at 22, I took the small, narrow sliver of the man I knew and mistook it for the whole,” she adds.

The documentary series details Lewinsky’s sexual relationship with Clinton in the 1990s which made international headlines when her friend, Linda Tripp, secretly recorded their conversations.

Clinton lost an impeachment vote in the House in December 1998, but the Senate failed to convict him on charges of perjury and he remained in office.

Lewinsky has spoken publicly about the onslaught of attention, criticism and abuse she faced from the tabloids and the media after the affair came to light. She has since become an anti-bullying advocate. 

“The Clinton Affair” premieres Sunday on A&E.

Tags Bill Clinton Bill Clinton Clinton impeachment Monica Lewinsky

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