How the life of Monica Lewinsky, the figurehead of the most high-profile sex scandal in the United States, has turned out and what she looks like now. Photo

In December 1998, the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, was impeached, and the once unremarkable Monica Lewinsky captured the attention of the world, becoming perhaps the most talked-about person of the period. The intimate relationship between a 22-year-old White House intern and a 48-year-old American leader is rightfully considered the most high-profile sex scandal not only in America but around the world. For Lewinsky, this story marked the end of her career, severe bullying in the press and on the Internet, and lengthy therapy with a psychologist.

Nevertheless, she eventually managed to escape the stream of hate and began to build her own life from scratch. And although her name is still associated with Bill Clinton's impeachment and everything that preceded it, Lewinsky has learned to use it to her advantage. And on February 26 this year, she even spearheaded Reformation's new You've Got the Power campaign to raise awareness of voter registration ahead of the 2024 elections, releasing a series of spectacular photos on the occasion. OBOZ.UA decided to tell the story of Lewinsky's life and show how it has changed.

Let's start from the beginning: 1995. Back then, Clinton was accused of sexual harassment by his colleague Paula Jones. However, there was no evidence, so the case was closed. In the same year, an ambitious 22-year-old Monica Lewinsky was hired as an intern at the White House. She begins an affair with the then 48-year-old married president.

Their relationship develops over the course of two years while remaining in the shadows. The meetings take place in the Oval Office, which is not bugged by the secret services. In 1997, Monica, who had begun to build a career at the Pentagon, shares her experiences with her friend and colleague Linda Tripp, not realizing that the secret is about to be revealed.

Tripp, secretly recording conversations with Monica, passes the audio to Paula Jones's lawyers. This information becomes, without exaggeration, a bomb that explodes the information space. The media publishes the spicy details of the affair, and the world learns about Bill Clinton's secret. The president is accused of lying under oath and abuse of power. He denies all charges but later admits that he had an "inappropriate relationship" with Monica.

The recorded conversations revealed that Lewinsky had at least 12 close contacts with Clinton. During the trial, the smallest and dirtiest details of the president's personal life were analyzed. Needless to say, the main argument during the investigation was a blue dress with traces of the politician's semen on it.

Monica Lewinsky, meanwhile, continues to be the object of ridicule and contempt. Her name is synonymous with a sex scandal. She suffers from depression, has to deal with public condemnation, and constantly runs away from the crowd of annoying paparazzi who nicknamed her the "queen of oral sex" in the media and almost drove her to suicide. The woman decides to flee to London, although she faces many difficulties there, including finding a job.

"In the late '90s, I was the most humiliated person on Earth and the first to fall victim to the Internet. I was shamed and harassed year after year," Lewinsky once said in an interview.

Over time, Monica managed to overcome the difficulties. She published a memoir detailing her affair with the president, tried her hand at hosting on American television, and even designing handbags. All attempts to start her own business failed miserably.

However, Lewinsky's real joy and calling has been her social activism. She now travels the world lecturing about cyberbullying, of which she was a victim. Her story is an example of how you can overcome discouragement after losing your reputation on a global level and start your life from scratch.

And in 2020, she became the producer of Impeachment: American Crime Story, an acclaimed FX series that recreated her story and showed her point of view, helping viewers understand the pain she went through as she faced the ultimate judgment of public opinion and the harsh media landscape of the time.

Lewinsky is now 50 years old. She was able to transform herself from a negative character into a person with a lot of experience and now she shares it with others. As we noted, on February 26, it was announced that Lewinsky became the face of Reformation's You've Got the Power campaign, aimed at raising awareness of voter registration ahead of the 2024 elections.

As part of the campaign, Lewinsky was photographed by Zoey Grossman in a new workwear collection (leather trench coats and black midi dresses with a belt) that will be launched in conjunction with a one-stop voting center created in cooperation with Vote.org.

Lewinsky, having lived through what she has, has finally gained confidence and her place in the sun. She positions herself as a reformer, with a determined look of a strong woman who wants and can make a difference.

Finally, we should add that Lewinsky never married or had children. She runs a blog on Instagram, which is followed by over 120 thousand people.

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