Monica Lewinsky is no stranger to media scrutiny, having endured a national scandal involving then President Bill Clinton more than 20 years ago. In the advent of the MeToo movement, she’s discussed reckoning with that moment and moving on, but on Monday the affair was back in the news after an Israeli news anchor asked her an “off-limits” question about Clinton at a public event, prompting Lewinsky to walk offstage just moments later.
Lewinsky attended a conference in Israel on Monday to deliver a speech on online harassment and cyberbullying—a cause she has taken up recently and that she discussed with Glamour last year. However, the event took a turn when she sat down for a scheduled 15-minute talk with Yonit Levi, who referred to remarks Clinton made on the Today show in June when asked about Lewinsky. (Clinton told interviewer Craig Melvin that he apologized “to everyone in the world” when asked if he offered a personal apology to Lewinsky.) When asked if she was still expecting an expression of regret from the former president, Lewinsky paused and then said, “I’m so sorry, I’m not going to be able to do this,” before getting up and walking away.
On Twitter, Lewinsky explained that there had been “clear parameters” set before the interview about “what we would be discussing and what we would not.”
“I left because it is more important than ever for women to stand up for themselves and not allow others to control their narrative,” she said via a note posted in a tweet. “To the audience: I’m very sorry that this talk had to end this way.”
https://twitter.com/MonicaLewinsky/status/1036733009184124928
Lewinsky also took media outlets to task for the way they reported the incident. In several articles, Lewinsky is described as having stormed off stage and becoming “angered” by Levi’s questions. Lewinsky clarified these characterizations, writing, “stormed? not quite. politely said i was leaving? yes. walked as fast as i could off stage in heels? yes.”
https://twitter.com/MonicaLewinsky/status/1036924680030932992
Lewinsky revisited her time interning in the White House in a powerful op-ed for Vanity Fair in which she described the post-traumatic stress that the highly publicized affair caused and questioned whether or not the relationship was truly consensual, given Clinton’s position of power. Still, she has worked to move past Clinton’s narrative being so entwined with hers, and on Monday, it was clear that she wasn’t going to let someone else steer the conversation for her.
MORE: Monica Lewinsky Reckons With #MeToo in a Powerful New Essay: ‘I’m Not Alone Anymore’
