Monica Lewinsky
American activist, public speaker, and writer

Monica Lewinsky

American activist, public speaker, and writer
Alternative Title: Monica Samille Lewinsky

Monica Lewinsky, in full Monica Samille Lewinsky, (born July 23, 1973, San Francisco, California, U.S.), American activist, public speaker, and writer, who, while a White House intern in 1995–96, had a sexual relationship with U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton that became a scandal.

Lewinsky, who was raised in Beverly Hills, California, began an internship at the White House in 1995, which led to her relationship with Clinton. Transferred to the Pentagon in April 1996, Lewinsky, then age 24, was befriended by a coworker, Linda Tripp, who secretly recorded telephone conversations about Lewinsky’s affair with Clinton. In January 1998 Tripp turned the tapes over to independent counsel Kenneth Starr, who was investigating business dealings by Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, with an Arkansas housing development corporation known as Whitewater (an inquiry that failed to turn up conclusive evidence of wrongdoing by the Clintons). Starr was given permission to expand the scope of his investigation and used the Tripp tapes as evidence that Clinton had committed perjury in denying under oath any relationship with Lewinsky. Lewinsky signed an affidavit denying the affair, but in July 1998 she accepted immunity in exchange for full disclosure and then testified before a grand jury. On the basis of the report produced by Starr’s investigation, the House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment (perjury and obstruction of justice); however, Clinton was acquitted of the charges by the Senate in 1999.

The scandal thrust Lewinsky into the national spotlight, bringing both opportunities—notably, in 2003 she hosted Mr. Personality, a reality TV dating show—and ridicule. She later studied social psychology at the London School of Economics, graduating with a master of science degree in 2007. Out of the public eye for several years, Lewinsky returned in 2014 when she became involved in efforts to end cyberbullying, drawing on her personal experiences. That year she also became a contributor to Vanity Fair magazine. Lewinsky later was featured in the TV documentary series The Clinton Affair (2018).

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