Former President Bill Clinton should have resigned from office after his affair with his former White House intern Monica Lewinsky came to light, the woman at the center of the controversy said in a new podcast interview.
Lewinsky, an anti-bullying advocate, opened up about the scandal in an appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast and told host Alex Cooper how she feels Clinton should have handled it.
“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.”
Although Lewinsky suggested she may be “naive” to imply this could ever have been possible, Cooper, 30, told her, “I agree with you. That is exactly how it should have been handled.”
Lewinsky was 22 when she began having a sexual relationship with Clinton, who was 49. Clinton initially insisted he did “not have sexual relations with” Lewinsky but later admitted he did have an inappropriate relationship with her. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton, but he was acquitted in the Senate and remained in office.
Lewinsky faced relentless media scrutiny when news of her affair with Clinton broke, and she recalled on the podcast being portrayed as a “stalker” and a “bimbo.” Since then, many have viewed Lewinsky more sympathetically amid renewed scrutiny over the age gap and power imbalance between her and Clinton.