Former US President Bill Clinton says he has not personally apologised to Monica Lewinsky after their affair, telling NBC News that the #MeToo movement has not impacted his perception of the issue.
Clinton, who engaged in an affair with the former White House intern in the mid 90s and then publicly lied about it, said he has not talked to Lewinsky since the scandal and doesn’t feel he owes her a personal apology.
“Looking back on what happened then, through the lens of #MeToo now, do you think differently or feel more responsibility?” TODAY host Craig Melvin asked Clinton.
“No. I felt terrible then, and I came to grips with it,” Clinton said.
“Through the lens of #MeToo now, do you think differently or feel more responsibility?… Did you ever apologize to her [Lewinsky]?” @craigmelvin to Bill Clinton pic.twitter.com/rXcixhDHER
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 4, 2018
He later added that “I did say, publicly, on more than one occasion, that I was sorry.
“That’s very different. The apology was public.”
The #MeToo movement, specifically its focus on coercive power dynamics that can influence personal relationships, has caused a public reexamination of the affair between Clinton and Lewinsky.
Seemingly in response to Clinton’s recent comments, Lewinsky tweeted that she is “grateful to the myriad people who have helped me evolve + gain perspective in the past 20 years,” and reposted a link to her March discussion with Vanity Fair.
In that piece, Lewinsky said she has PTSD brought on by the intense media scrutiny during the scandal, and openly questioned the exact nature of their affair.
“Now, at 44, I’m beginning (just beginning) to consider the implications of the power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern,” she said.
