Monica Lewinsky#Scandal

{{Infobox person

| image = MonicaLewinsky-byPhilipRomano.jpg

| alt = Monica Lewinsky

| caption = Lewinsky in 2025

| birth_name = Monica Samille Lewinsky

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1973|7|23}}

| birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.

| education = Santa Monica College
[[Lewis & Clark College|Lewis and Clark College

]] (BS)
London School of Economics (MSc)

| occupation = {{flat list|

Activist
television personality (formerly)
government assistant (formerly)

}}

| years_active = 1995–2005; 2014–present

| employer = White House Office of Legislative Affairs
The Pentagon

| known = Clinton–Lewinsky scandal

| parents = Bernard Lewinsky
Marcia Lewis

| relatives = R. Peter Straus {{small|(stepfather)}}
Diane Straus {{small|(stepsister)}}

}}

Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist. Lewinsky became internationally known in the late 1990s after U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an affair with her during her days as a White House intern between 1995 and 1997. The affair and its repercussions (which included Clinton's impeachment) became known as the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal.

Following the scandal, Lewinsky engaged in a variety of ventures that included designing a line of handbags under her name, serving as an advertising spokesperson for a diet plan, and working as a television personality. She obtained a master's degree in psychology from the London School of Economics in 2006. In 2014, Lewinsky began speaking out as an activist against cyberbullying.

Early life

Lewinsky was born in San Francisco, California, and grew up in an affluent family in Southern California in the Westside Brentwood area of Los Angeles and later in Beverly Hills.{{cite book |last=Morton |first=Andrew R. |author-link=Andrew Morton (writer) |title=Monica's Story |url=https://archive.org/details/monicasstory00mort |url-access=registration |year=1999 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=0-312-97362-4 |page=357}}{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/08/06/lewinsky.profile/ |title=Who Is Monica Lewinsky? |author=Aiken, Jonathan |publisher=CNN|date=August 6, 1998}} Her father is Bernard Lewinsky, an oncologist, who is the son of German Jews who emigrated from Germany in the 1920s, first moving to El Salvador and then finally to the United States when he was 14.{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/23/time/pooley.html |title=Monica's World |author=Pooley, Eric |magazine=Time |date=February 23, 1998}} Her mother, born Marcia Kay Vilensky, is an author who uses the name Marcia Lewis. In 1996, she wrote a "gossip biography", The Private Lives of the Three Tenors. Lewinsky’s maternal grandfather, Samuel M. Vilensky, was a Lithuanian Jew, and her maternal grandmother, Bronia Poleshuk, was born in the British Concession of Tianjin, China, to a Russian Jewish family.{{cite news |url=http://articles.nydailynews.com/1998-08-09/news/18078775_1_monica-lewinsky-friends-marcia-lewis |title=Monica's Mom Defended |date=August 9, 1998 |newspaper=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=September 10, 2011 |archive-date=July 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707135201/http://articles.nydailynews.com/1998-08-09/news/18078775_1_monica-lewinsky-friends-marcia-lewis |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=https://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/02/news/ls-35076/2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224131532/http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/02/news/ls-35076/2 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 24, 2013 |work=Los Angeles Times |title=Monica's Mom, the Reluctant Starr Witness |date=April 2, 1998}} Lewinsky’s parents divorced in 1988 and each has remarried.{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/02/monica.mom/ |title=Lewinsky's mother to wed media executive |publisher=CNN|date=February 2, 1998}}

The family attended Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and Lewinsky attended Sinai Akiba Academy, the school affiliated with the Temple.{{cite news |url=http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/7521/l-a-temple-fends-off-lewinsky-inquiries/ |title=L.A. temple fends off Lewinsky inquiries |author=Tugend, Tom |agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |newspaper=J. The Jewish News of Northern California |date=January 30, 1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100221094718/http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/7521/l-a-temple-fends-off-lewinsky-inquiries/ |archive-date=February 21, 2010 |df=mdy-all |access-date=December 29, 2009 }} For her primary education, she attended the John Thomas Dye School in Bel-Air.At Pacific Hills School (formerly Bel-Air Prep) she won the "Outstanding Junior of the Year" award. [http://weeklywire.com/ww/03-15-99/memphis_book.html "That Girl"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061112175517/http://www.weeklywire.com/ww/03-15-99/memphis_book.html |date=November 12, 2006 }} by Leonard Gill, March 15, 1999. Memphis Flyer book review. Retrieved December 18, 2006. Lewinsky attended Beverly Hills High School for three years before transferring to Bel Air Prep (later known as Pacific High School), graduating in 1991.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/lewprofile.htm |title=Lewinsky: Two Coasts, Two Lives, Many Images |author=Leen, Jeff |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 24, 1998 |page=A1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907170242/http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/lewprofile.htm |archive-date=September 7, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}

Following her high school graduation, Lewinsky attended Santa Monica College while working for the drama department at Beverly Hills High School and at a tie shop.{{cite news |author=Green, Michelle |date=February 9, 1998 |title=Scandal at 1600 |magazine=People |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20124429,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=December 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050331/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20124429,00.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016}} In 1992, she and Andy Bleiler, her married former high school drama instructor, began a five-year affair.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/drama012898.htm |title=Lewinsky's Former Teacher Discloses Affair |first=William |last=Clairborne |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 28, 1998 |page=A22}} In 1993, she enrolled at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1995. In an appearance on Larry King Live in 2000, she revealed that she started an affair with a 40-year-old married man in Los Angeles when she was 18 years old, and that the affair continued while she was attending Lewis & Clark College in the early 1990s; she did not disclose the man's identity.{{cite web | title=Monica Lewinsky Once Revealed She Had A Relationship With A Married Man Prior To Bill Clinton Affair | website=USA News Site | date=September 12, 2021 | url=https://usanewssite.com/culture/monica-lewinsky-once-revealed-she-had-a-relationship-with-a-married-man-prior-to-bill-clinton-affair/ | access-date=September 13, 2021}}

With the assistance of a family connection, Lewinsky secured an unpaid summer White House internship in the office of White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. Lewinsky moved to Washington, D.C. and took up the position in July 1995. She moved to a paid posting in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs in December 1995.

Scandal

File:Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky on February 28, 1997 A3e06420664168d9466c84c3e31ccc2f.jpg

File:Monica lewinsky.jpg

Lewinsky stated that she had nine sexual encounters with President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office between November 1995 and March 1997. According to her testimony, these encounters involved oral sex and other sexual acts, but not sexual intercourse.{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-03-19-852575883_x.htm |title=Lewinsky and the first lady |date=March 19, 2008 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=January 19, 2010 |work=USA Today|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412161707/http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-03-19-852575883_x.htm |archive-date=April 12, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}

Clinton had previously been confronted with allegations of sexual misconduct during his time as Governor of Arkansas. Former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones filed a civil lawsuit against him alleging that he had sexually harassed her. Lewinsky's name surfaced during the discovery phase of Jones' case, when Jones' lawyers sought to show a pattern of behavior by Clinton which involved inappropriate sexual relationships with other government employees.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Xq9fAAAAIBAJ&pg=3866,13572 |title=Paula Jones' lawyers want Lewinsky evidence |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=Gettysburg Times |date=April 1, 1998 |page=A3}}

In April 1996, Lewinsky's superiors transferred her from the White House to the Pentagon because they felt that she was spending too much time with Clinton. At the Pentagon, she worked as an assistant to chief Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon. In September 1997, after Lewinsky told co-worker Linda Tripp about her relationship with Clinton, Tripp began to secretly record their telephone conversations. Lewinsky left her position at the Pentagon in December 1997,{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/01/31/credibility/index.html |title=Keeping Score In the Lewinsky Matter |publisher=CNN |date=January 31, 1998}} and in January 1998 submitted an affidavit in the Paula Jones case denying any physical relationship with Clinton. Though she attempted to persuade Tripp to lie under oath in that case, Tripp gave the tapes to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, adding to his ongoing investigation into the Whitewater controversy. Starr then broadened his investigation beyond the Arkansas land use deal to include Lewinsky, Clinton, and others for possible perjury and subornation of perjury in the Jones case. Tripp reported the taped conversations to literary agent Lucianne Goldberg. She also convinced Lewinsky to save the gifts that Clinton had given her during their relationship and not to dry clean a blue dress that was stained with Clinton's semen. Under oath, Clinton denied having had "a sexual affair", "sexual relations", or "a sexual relationship" with Lewinsky.[http://icreport.access.gpo.gov/report/6narrit.htm#L1 Starr Report: Nature of President Clinton's Relationship with Monica Lewinsky] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001203073600/http://icreport.access.gpo.gov/report/6narrit.htm |date=December 3, 2000 }} Retrieved December 18, 2006.

News of the Clinton–Lewinsky relationship broke in January 1998. On January 26, 1998, Clinton stated, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" in a nationally televised White House news conference. The matter instantly occupied the news media, and Lewinsky spent the next weeks hiding from public attention in her mother's residence at the Watergate complex. News of Lewinsky's affair with Andy Bleiler, her former high school drama instructor, also came to light, and he turned over to Starr various souvenirs, photographs, and documents that Lewinsky had sent him and his wife during the time that she was in the White House.

Clinton had also said, "There is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship"The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june98/clinton_1-21.html President Bill Clinton January 21, 1998] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080207152841/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june98/clinton_1-21.html |date=February 7, 2008 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clinton081898.htm |title=Clinton Admits to Lewinsky Relationship, Challenges Starr to End Personal 'Prying' |first=Peter |last=Baker |author2=John F. Harris |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=August 18, 1998 |page=A1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004120050/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clinton081898.htm |archive-date=October 4, 2006 |df=mdy-all }} which he defended as truthful on August 17, 1998, because of his use of the present tense, arguing "it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is".{{cite web |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/transcr.htm |title=Videotaped Testimony of William Jefferson Clinton Before the Grand Jury Empaneled for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr August 17, 1998 |last1=Hibbitts |first1=Bernard |date=September 21, 1998 |publisher=JURIST: The Law Professors' Network |access-date=January 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711175656/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/transcr.htm |archive-date=July 11, 2011}} Starr obtained a blue dress from Lewinsky with Clinton's semen stained on it, as well as testimony from her that the President had inserted a cigar into her vagina. Clinton stated, "I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate", but he denied committing perjury because, according to Clinton, the legal definition of oral sex was not encompassed by "sex" per se.[http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-clintonjonesperjury.html "Perjury about sexual relations from the Paula Jones deposition"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610093754/http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-clintonjonesperjury.html |date=June 10, 2011 }} by Steve Kangas. Retrieved February 12, 2006 In addition, he relied on the definition of "sexual relations" as proposed by the prosecution and agreed by the defense and by Judge Susan Webber Wright, who was hearing the Paula Jones case. Clinton claimed that certain acts were performed on him, not by him, and therefore he did not engage in sexual relations. Lewinsky's testimony to the Starr Commission, however, contradicted Clinton's claim of being totally passive in their encounters.{{cite news |last1=Bennet |first1=James |last2=Abramson |first2=Jill |title=The Testing of a President: The Overview; Lawyers Say Tape of Clinton Shows Regret and Anger |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/20/us/testing-president-overview-lawyers-say-tape-clinton-shows-regret-anger.html?pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 20, 1998 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306191013/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/20/us/testing-president-overview-lawyers-say-tape-clinton-shows-regret-anger.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}

Clinton and Lewinsky were both called before a grand jury. Clinton testified via closed-circuit television, while Lewinsky testified in person. She was granted transactional immunity by the Office of the Independent Counsel in exchange for her testimony.{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/07/28/lewinsky/ |title=Lewinsky Strikes Far-Reaching Immunity Deal |last=Blitzer |first=Wolf |author2=Franken, Bob |date=July 28, 1998 |publisher=CNN |access-date=March 9, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121145022/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/07/28/lewinsky/ |archive-date=January 21, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}

Life after the scandal

Lewinsky's immunity agreement restricted what she could talk about publicly, but she was able to cooperate with Andrew Morton in his writing of Monica's Story, her biography which included her side of the Clinton affair. The book was published in March 1999; it was also excerpted as a cover story in Time magazine.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/28/daily/030599lewinsky-book-review.html |title='Monica's Story': Tawdry and Tiresome |author=Kakutani, Michiko |author-link=Michiko Kakutani |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 5, 1999 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109113643/http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/28/daily/030599lewinsky-book-review.html |archive-date=January 9, 2017 |df=mdy-all }} On March 3, 1999, Barbara Walters interviewed Lewinsky on ABC's 20/20. The program was watched by 70 million Americans, which ABC said was a record for a news show.{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1999/03/08/makeover.html |title=Monica's makeover |author=Cloud, John |publisher=CNN|date=March 8, 1999 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831082058/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/time/1999/03/08/makeover.html |archive-date=August 31, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} Lewinsky made about $500,000 from her participation in the book and another $1 million from international rights to the Walters interview, but was still beset by high legal bills and living costs.

In June 1999, Ms. magazine published a series of articles by writer Susan Jane Gilman,{{cite news |url=http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-gilman.asp |title=Oral Report |last=Gilman |first=Susan Jane |date=June 1999 |work=Ms. Magazine |access-date=July 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210003700/http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-gilman.asp |archive-date=February 10, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} sexologist Susie Bright,{{cite news |url=http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-bright.asp |title=The Beauty and the Brains |last=Bright |first=Susie |date=June 1999 |work=Ms. Magazine |access-date=July 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715141323/http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-bright.asp |archive-date=July 15, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} and author-host Abiola Abrams{{cite news |url=http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-abrams.asp |title=Dear Monica |last=Adams |first=Abiola Wendy |date=June 1999 |work=Ms. Magazine |access-date=July 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806031850/http://www.msmagazine.com/jun99/monica-abrams.asp |archive-date=August 6, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} arguing from three generations of women whether Lewinsky's behavior had any meaning for feminism. Also in 1999, Lewinsky declined to sign an autograph in an airport, saying, "I'm kind of known for something that's not so great to be known for."{{cite news |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1999/02/07/monica-gains-respect-for-renouncing-fame/ |title=Monica Gains Respect For Renouncing Fame |author=Leonard Pitts |date=February 7, 1999 |newspaper=Orlando Sentinel |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701020518/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1999-02-07/news/9902050766_1_jessica-hahn-fame-monica-lewinsky |archive-date=July 1, 2012 |df=mdy-all }} She made a cameo appearance as herself in two sketches during the May 8, 1999, episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live, a program that had lampooned her relationship with Clinton over the prior 16 months.

In September 1999, Lewinsky began to sell a line of handbags bearing her name,{{cite news |url=http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/2004-05/040527-is-the-lewinsky-affair-over-.aspx |title=Is the Lewinsky Affair Over? |magazine=Vogue |date=May 27, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515071129/http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/2004-05/040527-is-the-lewinsky-affair-over-.aspx |archive-date=May 15, 2011 |df=mdy-all }} under the company name The Real Monica, Inc.{{cite news |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/4481/ |title=Monica Takes Manhattan |author=Grigoriadis, Vanessa |magazine=New York |date=March 19, 2001 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706183225/http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/4481/ |archive-date=July 6, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} They were sold online as well as at Henri Bendel in New York, Fred Segal in California, and The Cross in London.{{cite news |url=http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,616490,00.html |title=Monica: It's In the Bag |magazine=People |date=January 12, 1999 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606231829/http://www.people.com/people/article/0%2C%2C616490%2C00.html |archive-date=June 6, 2010 |df=mdy-all }} Lewinsky designed the bags—described by New York magazine as "hippie-ish, reversible totes"—and traveled frequently to supervise their manufacture in Louisiana.

At the start of 2000, Lewinsky began appearing in television commercials for the diet company Jenny Craig, Inc.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/28/business/media-business-advertising-monica-lewinsky-meets-jenny-craig-spokeswoman-born.html |title=Monica Lewinsky Meets Jenny Craig, and a Spokeswoman Is Born |author=Hays, Constance L. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 28, 1999 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308114855/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/28/business/media-business-advertising-monica-lewinsky-meets-jenny-craig-spokeswoman-born.html |archive-date=March 8, 2016 |df=mdy-all }} The $1 million endorsement deal, which required Lewinsky to lose 40 or more pounds in six months, gained considerable publicity at the time. Lewinsky said that despite her desire to return to a more private life, she needed the money to pay off legal fees, and she believed in the product. A Jenny Craig spokesperson said of Lewinsky, "She represents a busy active woman of today with a hectic lifestyle. And she has had weight issues and weight struggles for a long time. That represents a lot of women in America." The choice of Lewinsky as a role model proved controversial for Jenny Craig, and some of its private franchises switched to an older advertising campaign.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/711920.stm |title=Lewinsky trimmed from slimming ads |work=BBC News |date=April 13, 2000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122015835/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/711920.stm |archive-date=January 22, 2010 |df=mdy-all }} The company stopped running the Lewinsky ads in February 2000, concluded her campaign entirely in April 2000, and paid her only $300,000 of the $1 million contracted for her involvement.

Also at the start of 2000, Lewinsky moved to New York City, lived in the West Village, and became an A-list guest in the Manhattan social scene. In February 2000, she appeared on MTV's The Tom Green Show, in an episode in which the host took her to his parents' home in Ottawa in search of fabric for her new handbag business. Later in 2000, Lewinsky worked as a correspondent for Channel 5 in the UK, on the show Monica's Postcards, reporting on U.S. culture and trends from a variety of locations.{{cite news |url=http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/now-monica-shows-off-her-postcards-on-uk-tv-1.48592 |title=Now Monica shows off her 'Postcards' on UK TV |agency=Associated Press/South African Press Association |publisher=Independent Online |date=September 24, 2000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917021754/http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/now-monica-shows-off-her-postcards-on-uk-tv-1.48592 |archive-date=September 17, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}

In March 2002, Lewinsky, no longer bound by the terms of her immunity agreement, appeared in the HBO special, "Monica in Black and White", part of the America Undercover series. In it she answered a studio audience's questions about her life and the Clinton affair.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/03/arts/television-radio-telling-her-own-story-selling-her-new-self.html |title=Telling Her Own Story, Selling Her New Self |author=James, Caryn |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 3, 2002 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816230849/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/03/arts/television-radio-telling-her-own-story-selling-her-new-self.html |archive-date=August 16, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}

Lewinsky hosted a reality television dating program, Mr. Personality, on Fox Television Network in 2003,{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870544_1870543_1870550,00.html |title=Where Are They Now: The Clinton Impeachment: Monica Lewinsky |magazine=Time |date=January 9, 2009 |access-date=May 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617060523/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0%2C28804%2C1870544_1870543_1870550%2C00.html |archive-date=June 17, 2010 |df=mdy-all }} where she advised young women contestants who were picking men hidden by masks.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/23/business/media-business-advertising-mr-personality-featuring-monica-lewinsky-draws-young.html |title='Mr. Personality,' featuring Monica Lewinsky, draws the young audience of advertisers' dreams |author=Carter, Bill |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 23, 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307194210/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/23/business/media-business-advertising-mr-personality-featuring-monica-lewinsky-draws-young.html |archive-date=March 7, 2016 |df=mdy-all }} Some Americans tried to organize a boycott of advertisers on the show, to protest Lewinsky's capitalizing on her notoriety.{{cite news |newspaper=Saint Paul Pioneer Press |page=C8 |title=People |date=April 27, 2003}} Nevertheless, the show debuted to very high ratings, and Alessandra Stanley wrote in The New York Times: "after years of trying to cash in on her fame by designing handbags and other self-marketing schemes, Ms. Lewinsky has finally found a fitting niche on television."{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/23/arts/the-tv-watch-the-name-of-the-game-is-class-guys-and-gals-or-the-lack-of-it.html |title=The Name of the Game Is Class, Guys and Gals, or the Lack of It |author=Stanley, Alessandra |author-link=Alessandra Stanley |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 23, 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123201635/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/23/arts/the-tv-watch-the-name-of-the-game-is-class-guys-and-gals-or-the-lack-of-it.html |archive-date=November 23, 2015 |df=mdy-all }} The same year she appeared as a guest on the programs V Graham Norton{{cite web |title=Episode #4.47 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0738471/ |website=IMDb |access-date=14 January 2023}} in the UK, High Chaparall{{cite web |title="High Chaparall" Monica Lewinsky (TV Episode 2003) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0601047/ |website=IMDb |access-date=14 January 2023}} in Sweden, and The View{{cite web |title=Episode dated 21 April 2003 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0740340/ |website=IMDb |access-date=14 January 2023}} and Jimmy Kimmel Live!{{cite web |title=Episode #1.84 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0615600/ |website=IMDb |access-date=14 January 2023}} in the U.S.

After Clinton's autobiography, My Life, appeared in 2004, Lewinsky said in an interview with the British tabloid Daily Mail:{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2004-06-25-lewinsky-clinton_x.htm |title=Lewinsky: Clinton lies about relationship in his new book |date=June 25, 2006 |newspaper=USA Today |agency=Associated Press |access-date=December 18, 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501061943/http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2004-06-25-lewinsky-clinton_x.htm |archive-date=May 1, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}

{{Blockquote|text=He could have made it right with the book, but he hasn't. He is a revisionist of history. He has lied. ... I really didn't expect him to go into detail about our relationship. ... But if he had and he'd done it honestly, I wouldn't have minded. ... I did, though, at least expect him to correct the false statements he made when he was trying to protect the Presidency. Instead, he talked about it as though I had laid it all out there for the taking. I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert. ... This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. ... I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character.}}

By 2005, Lewinsky found that she could not escape the spotlight in the U.S., which made both her professional and personal life difficult. She stopped selling her handbag line and moved to London to study social psychology at the London School of Economics. In December 2006, Lewinsky graduated with a Master of Science degree.{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/monica-lewinsky-earns-masters-degree-in-london |title=Monica Lewinsky Earns Master's Degree in London |date=December 21, 2006 |publisher=Fox News|access-date=December 27, 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108173219/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C238021%2C00.html |archive-date=January 8, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/sep/07/highereducation.psychology |title=Lewinsky to study psychology at LSE |author=MacLeod, Donald |newspaper=The Guardian |date=September 7, 2005 |access-date=December 24, 2009 |location=London |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507020752/http://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/sep/07/highereducation.psychology |archive-date=May 7, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} Her thesis was titled, "In Search of the Impartial Juror: An Exploration of the Third-Person Effect and Pre-Trial Publicity".{{cite news| url=https://www.reuters.com/article/people-lewinsky-degree-dc/lewinsky-graduates-from-london-school-of-economics-idUSN2044156920061220|title=Lewinsky graduates from London School of Economics|date=January 7, 2007|work=Reuters|access-date=January 19, 2018}} For the next decade, she tried to avoid publicity.{{cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/2013/07/23/the_monica_lewinsky_scandal_where_are_they_now/ |title=The Monica Lewinsky scandal: Where are they now? |author=Gupta, Prachi |magazine=Salon |date=July 23, 2013 |access-date=November 5, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923211310/http://www.salon.com/2013/07/23/the_monica_lewinsky_scandal_where_are_they_now/ |archive-date=September 23, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/lewinskys-perspective-106421.html |title=Monica Lewinsky's hard-won perspective |first=Todd S. |last=Purdum |author-link=Todd Purdum |newspaper=Politico |date=May 10, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140511000926/http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/lewinskys-perspective-106421.html |archive-date=May 11, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}

Lewinsky did correspond in 2009 with scholar Ken Gormley, who was writing an in-depth study of the Clinton scandals. Lewinsky wrote to Gormley that Clinton had lied under oath when asked detailed and specific questions about his relationship with her.{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30745.html |title=Monica's back – says Clinton lied |author=Gerstein, Josh |author2=Harris, John F. |newspaper=Politico |date=December 17, 2009 |access-date=December 24, 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220235752/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30745.html |archive-date=December 20, 2009 |df=mdy-all }} In 2013, the items associated with Lewinsky that Bleiler had turned over to Starr were put up for auction by Bleiler's ex-wife, who had come into possession of them.{{cite news |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2013/06/25/monica-lewinsky-mementos-go-up-for-auction/ |title=Monica Lewinsky Mementos Go Up for Auction |first=Erica |last=Ho |magazine=Time |date=June 25, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625221709/http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/06/25/monica-lewinsky-mementos-go-up-for-auction/ |archive-date=June 25, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}

During her decade out of the public eye, Lewinsky lived in London, Los Angeles, New York, and Portland but, due to her notoriety, had trouble finding employment in the communications and marketing jobs for nonprofit organizations where she had been interviewed.

Public re-emergence

File:Monica Lewinsky 2014 IDA Awards.jpg Awards]]

In May 2014, Lewinsky wrote an essay for Vanity Fair magazine titled "Shame and Survival", wherein she discussed her life and the scandal.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/style/society/2014/06/monica-lewinsky-humiliation-culture |title=Shame and Survival: Monica Lewinsky on the Culture of Humiliation |last=Lewinsky |first=Monica |date=June 2014 |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=July 1, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704062418/http://www.vanityfair.com/style/society/2014/06/monica-lewinsky-humiliation-culture |archive-date=July 4, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite news |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/05/monica-lewinsky-speaks |title=Exclusive: Monica Lewinsky Writes About Her Affair with President Clinton |date=May 6, 2014 |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=May 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506233301/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/05/monica-lewinsky-speaks |archive-date=May 6, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} She continued to maintain that the relationship was mutual and wrote that while Clinton took advantage of her, it was a consensual relationship.{{cite web |url=https://theweek.com/article/index/261080/speedreads-monica-lewinsky-breaks-10-years-of-silence-on-affair-with-president-clinton |title=Monica Lewinsky breaks 10 years of silence on affair with President Clinton |last=Meslow |first=Scott |date=May 7, 2014 |magazine=The Week |access-date=May 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140506230937/https://theweek.com/article/index/261080/speedreads-monica-lewinsky-breaks-10-years-of-silence-on-affair-with-president-clinton |archive-date=May 6, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} She added: "I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton. Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened." However, she said it was now time to "stick my head above the parapet so that I can take back my narrative and give a purpose to my past." The magazine later announced her as a Vanity Fair contributor, stating she would "contribute to their website on an ongoing basis, on the lookout for relevant topics of interest".{{cite web |title=Monica Lewinsky Is Writing For Vanity Fair Now |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/monica-lewinsky-becomes-vanity-fair-contributor-2014-7 |access-date=June 17, 2015 |website=Business Insider |date=July 31, 2014 |author=Julia Cannon |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617040749/http://www.businessinsider.com/monica-lewinsky-becomes-vanity-fair-contributor-2014-7 |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite news |title=Monica Lewinsky to contribute to Vanity Fair on an 'ongoing basis' |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/monica-lewinsky-contribute-vanity-fair-ongoing-basis-article-1.1888461 |access-date=June 17, 2015 |newspaper=New York Daily News |date=August 1, 2014 |author=Beth Stebner |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617040706/http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/monica-lewinsky-contribute-vanity-fair-ongoing-basis-article-1.1888461 |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}

In July 2014, Lewinsky was interviewed in a three-part television special for the National Geographic Channel, titled The 90s: The Last Great Decade. The series looked at various events of the 1990s, including the scandal that brought Lewinsky into the national spotlight. This was Lewinsky's first such interview in more than ten years.{{cite news |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/07/monica-lewinsky-grants-first-tv-interview-in-years |title=Monica Lewinsky Grants First TV Interview in Years |last=Makarechi |first=Kia |date=July 1, 2014 |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=July 13, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712163717/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/07/monica-lewinsky-grants-first-tv-interview-in-years |archive-date=July 12, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}

In October 2014, she took a public stand{{cite news|title=Monica Lewinsky to Bullying Victims: 'Please Don't Suffer in Silence'|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/monica-lewinsky-bullying-victims-dont-suffer-silence/story?id=34139687|publisher=ABC News|date=September 30, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126184414/https://abcnews.go.com/US/monica-lewinsky-bullying-victims-dont-suffer-silence/story?id=34139687|archive-date=January 26, 2016|df=mdy-all}} against cyberbullying, calling herself "patient zero" of online harassment. Speaking at a Forbes magazine "30 Under 30" summit about her experiences in the aftermath of the scandal, she said, "Having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive, too."{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/politics/lewinsky-cyber-bullying/index.html |title=Lewinsky makes emotional plea to end cyberbullying |last=Merica |first=Dan |date=October 21, 2014 |publisher=CNN |access-date=October 22, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022080457/http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/politics/lewinsky-cyber-bullying/index.html |archive-date=October 22, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} She said she was influenced by reading about the suicide of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University freshman, involving cyberbullying and joined Twitter to facilitate her efforts.{{cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/10/20/monica-lewinsky-speaks-its-my-mission-to-end-cyberbullying/ |title=Monica Lewinsky Speaks: 'It's My Mission To End Cyberbullying' |last=O'Connor |first=Clare |date=October 20, 2014 |magazine=Forbes |access-date=October 22, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021225914/http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/10/20/monica-lewinsky-speaks-its-my-mission-to-end-cyberbullying/ |archive-date=October 21, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/politics/monica-lewinsky-twitter/ |title=Monica Lewinsky joins Twitter |last=Merica |first=Dan |date=October 20, 2014 |publisher=CNN |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022101654/http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/politics/monica-lewinsky-twitter/ |archive-date=October 22, 2014 |df=mdy-all }} In March 2015, Lewinsky continued to speak out publicly against cyberbullying,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/style/monica-lewinsky-is-back-but-this-time-its-on-her-terms.html |title=Monica Lewinsky Is Back, but This Time It's on Her Terms |last=Bennett |first=Jessica |date=March 19, 2015 |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 20, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319224903/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/style/monica-lewinsky-is-back-but-this-time-its-on-her-terms.html |archive-date=March 19, 2015 |df=mdy-all }} delivering a TED talk calling for a more compassionate Internet.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31976567 |title=Monica Lewinsky calls for a more compassionate internet |last=Wakefield |first=Jane |date=March 19, 2015 |work=BBC Online |access-date=March 19, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320081006/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31976567 |archive-date=March 20, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}{{Cite news |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U |date=March 20, 2015 |title=Monica Lewinsky: The price of shame |access-date=March 21, 2015 |publisher=TED via YouTube |first=Monica |last=Lewinsky |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150321194938/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U |archive-date=March 21, 2015 |df=mdy-all }} In June 2015, she became an ambassador and strategic advisor for anti-bullying organization Bystander Revolution.{{cite news |title=Monica Lewinsky joins anti-bullying group Bystander Revolution, says she wants to help 'other victims of the shame game' survive |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/monica-lewinsky-joins-antibullying-group-bystander-revolution-says-she-wants-to-help-other-victims-of-the-shame-game-survive-10308313.html |access-date=June 17, 2015 |newspaper=The Independent|date=June 9, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617062442/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/monica-lewinsky-joins-antibullying-group-bystander-revolution-says-she-wants-to-help-other-victims-of-the-shame-game-survive-10308313.html |archive-date=June 17, 2015 |df=mdy-all }} The same month, she gave an anti-cyberbullying speech at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.{{cite magazine | last=Alter | first=Charlotte | title=Read Monica Lewinsky's Moving Speech on Cyberbullying | magazine=Time | date=June 25, 2015 | url=https://time.com/3936957/monica-lewinsky-speech-cyberbullying/ | access-date=May 25, 2023}} In September 2015, Lewinsky was interviewed by Amy Robach on Good Morning America, about Bystander Revolution's Month of Action campaign for National Bullying Prevention Month.{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/monica-lewinsky-bullying-victims-suffer-silence-34145446|title=Monica Lewinsky Bystander Revolution interview|website=ABC News|date=April 29, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705054130/https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/monica-lewinsky-bullying-victims-suffer-silence-34145446|archive-date=July 5, 2016|df=mdy-all}} Lewinsky wrote the foreword{{cite web|url=http://people.com/politics/monica-lewinsky-debuts-anti-cyberbullying-video/|title=Monica Lewinsky Shares New Video to Combat Cyberbullying|last=McNeill|first=Liz|date=October 9, 2017|work=People|access-date=October 29, 2017}} to an October 2017 book by Sue Scheff and Melissa Schorr, Shame Nation: The Global Epidemic of Online Hate.{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/monica-lewinsky-stepping-up-speaking-out_us_59db722fe4b0cf2548b338f2|title=Monica Lewinsky: Stepping Up, Speaking Out|last=Scheff|first=Sue|date=October 9, 2017|work=HuffPost|access-date=October 21, 2017}}{{cite book|last1=Scheff|first1=Sue|last2=Schorr|first2=Melissa|title=Shame Nation: The Global Epidemic of Online Hate|date=October 3, 2017|publisher=Sourcebooks|isbn=978-1492648994}}

In October 2017, Lewinsky tweeted the #MeToo hashtag to indicate that she was a victim of sexual harassment or sexual assault, but did not provide details.{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/monica-lewinsky-tweets-metoo|agency=Fox News|date=October 18, 2017|title=Monica Lewinsky tweets '#MeToo'}} She wrote an essay in the March 2018 issue of Vanity Fair in which she did not directly explain why she used the #MeToo hashtag in October. She did write that looking back at her relationship with Bill Clinton, although it was consensual, because he was 27 years older than she and in a position with a lot more power than she had, in her opinion the relationship constituted an "abuse of power" on Clinton's part. She added that she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder due to what she had experienced after the relationship was disclosed.{{cite news|last1=Lewinsky|first1=Monica|title=Emerging from "The House of Gaslight" in the age of #MeToo|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/monica-lewinsky-in-the-age-of-metoo|access-date=February 26, 2018|work=Vanity Fair|date=March 2018|quote=To be blunt, I was diagnosed several years ago with post-traumatic stress disorder, mainly from the ordeal of having been publicly outed and ostracized back then.}} In May 2018, Lewinsky was disinvited from an event hosted by Town & Country when Bill Clinton accepted an invitation to the event.{{cite news |last1=Peck |first1=Emily |first2=Maxwell |last2=Strachan |date=9 May 2018 |title=Town & Country Magazine Uninvited Monica Lewinsky From An Event Because Of Bill Clinton |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/monica-lewinsky-town-country-bill-clinton_us_5af34667e4b04d3b2c901b74 |work=Huffington Post |access-date=9 May 2018 }}

In September 2018, Lewinsky spoke at a conference in Jerusalem. Following her speech, she sat for a Q&A session with the host, journalist Yonit Levi. The first question Levi asked was whether Lewinsky thinks that Clinton owes her a private apology. Lewinsky refused to answer the question, and walked off the stage. She later tweeted that the question was posed in a pre-event meeting with Levi, and Lewinsky told her that such a question was off limits. A spokesman for the Israel Television News Company, which hosted the conference and is Levi's employer, responded that Levi had kept all the agreements she made with Lewinsky and honored her requests.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/09/04/monica-lewinsky-walks-off-stage-jerusalem-conference-when-asked-about-bill-clinton/|newspaper=The Washington Post|title= Monica Lewinsky walks off the stage at a Jerusalem conference when asked about Bill Clinton|date=September 4, 2018|first=Ruth| last=Eglash}}

In 2019, she was interviewed by John Oliver on his HBO show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, where they discussed the importance of solving the problem of public shaming and how her situation may have been different if social media had existed at the time that the scandal broke in the late 1990s.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2019/03/john-oliver-blasts-jay-lenos-scolding-of-late-night-tv-for-lack-of-civility-1202577196/|title=John Oliver Blasts Jay Leno's Scolding Of Late-Night TV For Lack Of "Civility"|first1=Lisa |last1=de Moraes|date=March 18, 2019}}

On August 6, 2019, it was announced that the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal would be the focus of the third season of the television series American Crime Story with the title Impeachment. The season began production in October 2020.{{Cite web |url=https://www.techradar247.com/2020/10/26/american-crime-story-season-3-production-starts-change-in-plans-more-details-to-know/ |title=American Crime Story Season 3: Production Starts! Change in Plans & More Details to Know |date=October 26, 2020 |access-date=October 26, 2020 |archive-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114232151/https://www.techradar247.com/2020/10/26/american-crime-story-season-3-production-starts-change-in-plans-more-details-to-know/ |url-status=live }} Lewinsky was a co-producer.{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/monica-lewinsky-produced-impeachment-set-as-next-american-crime-story-at-fx-1229819|title=Monica Lewinsky-Produced 'Impeachment' Set as Next 'American Crime Story' at FX|last=Goldberg|first=Lesley|newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter|date=August 6, 2019|archive-date=October 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022230642/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/monica-lewinsky-produced-impeachment-set-as-next-american-crime-story-at-fx-1229819|url-status=live}} It consists of 10 episodes and premiered on September 7, 2021. The season portrays the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal and is based on the book A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President by Jeffrey Toobin. The 28-year-old actress Beanie Feldstein plays Monica Lewinsky. In discussing the series and her observations on social media and cancel culture today in an interview with Kara Swisher for the New York Times Opinion podcast Sway,{{cite podcast |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-monica-lewinsky.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-monica-lewinsky.html |archive-date=2021-12-28 |url-access=limited |title=Monica Lewinsky has some things to say about cancel culture |website=The New York Times |publisher=The New York Times |host= Kara Swisher|date=October 4, 2021 |time= |access-date=October 5, 2021}}{{cbignore}} Lewinsky noted that: {{quote|I think that the first thing that went out the door in 1998 was the truth, and the second was context. And there’s no nuance. And we were all women who were thrust into the spotlight underneath a political film or sheen. And we were all reduced. We were all reduced in different ways to serve purposes for other people, for either political points or to make money.}} In October 2021, she executively produced an HBO documentary 15 Minutes of Shame, directed by Max Joseph, which focused on public shaming, online shaming, and ostracism.{{cite web | last=Loofbourow | first=Lili | title=What Monica Lewinsky's New Documentary on Public Shaming Gets Wrong | website=Slate| date=2021-10-20 | url=https://slate.com/culture/2021/10/15-minutes-of-shame-monica-lewinsky-documentary.html | access-date=2024-11-07}}{{cite web | last=Lowry | first=Brian | title='15 Minutes of Shame' looks at public shaming with 'patient zero' Monica Lewinsky | website=CNN| date=2021-10-07 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/07/entertainment/15-minutes-of-shame-review/index.html | access-date=2024-11-07}}

Lewinsky started her own production company, Alt Ending Productions, and signed a first look deal with 20th Television in June 2021.{{Cite web|last=Baysinger|first=Tim|date=2021-06-14|title=Monica Lewinsky Signs First-Look Deal With 20th TV|url=https://www.thewrap.com/monica-lewinsky-signs-first-look-deal-with-20th-tv/|access-date=2021-06-15|website=TheWrap|language=en-US}}