Monica Lewinsky Reveals Relationship With Bill Clinton Was An Abuse Of Power

More than 25 years after her name became synonymous with one of the most shocking political scandals in American history, Monica Lewinsky is taking control of the narrative. In an intimate and remarkably candid interview for the "How to Fail" with Elizabeth Day podcast, on which Day interviews public figures about their failures, the former White House intern shared her view on her affair with then-President Bill Clinton, calling it, in no uncertain terms, "an abuse of power."

Now 50, Lewinsky described the emotional tangledness of the relationship that, at one time, captivated the world. "It was 22 to 24-year-old young woman's love," she said, giving a hint at the perspective she held of the relationship at the time. She discussed how our notions of love evolve as we gain experience and age. "I think there was some limerence there and all sort of other things," she wrote, evoking the emotional confusion in which many young adults find themselves when mixed up in complex dynamics, particularly with figures of immense sway. But it was what she said next that reverberated most deeply: "I think it was also an abuse of power." Just like that, Lewinsky claimed her story not as a sidelight to a president's destruction but as a woman whose situation illuminated a profound and painful imbalance of power, consent, and accountability.

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At the time, the Clinton-Lewinsky affair was making headlines worldwide, culminating in just the second impeachment of a sitting U.S. president. However, the fallout from the affair disproportionately fell on Lewinsky. She was reviled in the press, shunned in the street, and written off as one more cartoon of scandal. She was branded a bimbo and subjected to years of ridicule while Clinton's political fortunes were largely unaffected.

These new remarks by Lewinsky amount to more than a reckoning. They signal a sea change. Her words resonate with a more general, contemporary evaluation of consent, power dynamics, and the long-term effects of public shaming. They also underscore how she has worked to shed her public image as a scandal magnet and emerge as an advocate for bullying prevention, accountability, and mental health.

While Clinton has not made a public comment about Lewinsky's remarks, her words open a renewed conversation about accountability and imbalance in office relationships, particularly when the balance of power is so obviously lopsided. Monica Lewinsky, a woman who was narratively circumscribed by scandal and ultimately silenced, has now reclaimed her own voice, cutting with knife-like precision along the grain of history with clarity and utter bravery. And this time, she's telling the story on her own terms.