Monica Lewinsky stayed silent for 10 years after her sex scandal with former President Bill Clinton—but no more. Following her very revealing Vanity Fair article in May, the most infamous White House intern in history is speaking out in a new TV interview, her first since 2003.
The interview, part of a National Geographic special The '90s: The Last Great Decade?, was previewed on Tuesday, July 1, on NBC's Today show. In it, Lewinsky, now 40, explained what it was like to be catapulted into the spotlight in September 1998 by the Starr Report, which disclosed intimate details about her affair with the Commander-in-Chief at the time.
"That was one of the worst days of my life," she recalled. "I was a virgin to humiliation of that level until that day." After that day? "I was the most humiliated woman in the world," Lewinsky said.
"To have my narrative ripped from me, and turned into the Starr Report, and things that were turned over or things they delved out of my computer that I thought were deleted…I mean, it was just violation after violation," she told Nat Geo.
Of the media storm that followed, she added: "To be in the vortex of this media maelstrom was quite alarming, and frightening and confusing. I think a lot, too, had to do with the fact that I was a woman."
"To be called stupid, and a slut, and a bimbo, and ditzy, and to be taken out of context…it was excruciating," she admitted.
The 90s: The Last Great Decade? is a three-part special. Part one debuts on Sunday, July 6.
