Monica Lewinsky recalls public backlash over Bill Clinton affair on "Call Her Daddy" podcast

Monica Lewinsky sat down for an interview on Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast to reflect on her high-profile relationship with Bill Clinton.

She reflected on her experiences as a woman, noting that she was the only one to be shamed despite it being a consensual relationship. She also called out the power dynamics of their relationship, seeing as she was 22 and interning at the time, while he was 49 years old and the President of the United States.

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Monica Lewinsky says Clinton could have handled the situation better

In the podcast with Alex Cooper, Monica Lewinsky opened up about the scandal that shaped her public standing. She also shared how she feels Clinton should have handled the situation:

"The right way to handle a situation like that would have been to probably say 'it was nobody's business' and to resign," she said. "Or to find a way of staying in office that was not lying, and not throwing a young person, who was just starting out in the world, under the bus."

As reported by USA Today, Clinton first insisted he did "not have s*xual relations with" Lewinsky, though he later conceded to the same. The admission later triggered the House of Representatives to vote to impeach him in 1998, but he was later acquitted in the Senate, allowing him to remain in office.

"At the same time, I hear myself say that and it’s like ‘Okay, but we’re also talking about the most powerful office in the world,'" she said. "I don’t want to be naive either."

She reflected on the aftermath of the scandal breaking out, noting that,

"For five seconds, it was sympathetic, and maybe after about a week, once the White House got in gear, I was very quickly painted as a stalker, a whore, mentally unstable, a bimbo."

She claimed to have been,

"Very quickly painted as both the pursuer in this and also not attractive enough to be pursued."

According to her,

"There was a creation of a version of me that I didn't recognize."

Monica Lewinsky also reflected on how, over the years, people began sympathizing with her. According to her, it was the younger generation that did so the most:

"It was the younger generations that really insisted on reevaluating this story because you were all coming to it with just the facts, not having gone through the brainwashing or lived through that media lens," she said, adding, "It was the younger women journalists who were starting to say, 'Hold up.'"

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On the podcast, Monica Lewinsky shared that in the aftermath of the scandal, her efforts to "reclaim" her life led her to

"Open a path that not a lot of women have been able to go through before, which is to be a fallen woman and to rise."