Monica Lewinksy Explains Why Bill Clinton Should 'Want' To Apologize To Her

Monica Lewinsky is reclaiming her story.

We’ve come a long way from the ‘90s narrative about the White House’s most infamous intern. This week marks the premiere of a more sympathetic portrayal of a young woman caught in an incredibly complicated situation in Impeachment: American Crime Story. One of the biggest changes is that Monica is actually involved in the most recent retelling of the tale, serving as a producer on Ryan Murphy’s latest series.

Ahead of the show’s premiere on Tuesday night, the 48-year-old appeared on Today to talk about revisiting that traumatic time. Asked by Savannah Guthrie whether she hoped her former boss and affair partner, Bill Clinton, would tune in to the television event, Monica admitted:

“I don’t even know how to really answer that.”

As to whether she’d want to talk to the ex-President or receive an apology from him, she reflected:

“I think there was a long period before my life changed in the last six or seven years where I felt a lot in terms of there not being this resolution. And I’m very grateful that I don’t have that feeling anymore. I don’t need it. He should want to apologize, in the same way that I want to apologize any chance I get to people that I’ve hurt and my actions have hurt.”

Fair point!

The activist went on to comment on her dual roles with the FX show, sharing:

“As a producer, I’m very proud. As a subject, I’m nervous. I’m nervous for people to see some of the worst moments of my life and a lot of behavior that I regret. If you remember your 20s not that long ago, it’s pretty cringe-worthy.”

Yeah, that wouldn’t be pretty for anyone…

While she didn’t have veto power over the script, Monica said she felt “heard” by Murphy and the rest of the team — and she was even the one who pushed to include one infamous incident, where she flashed her thong at the president. She explained:

“As a subject, I was incredibly grateful it was missing. But I realized as a producer that particularly because I was involved, that the credibility of the show would have been significantly affected. And I didn’t think that was fair to anyone else. But more than that was really: I shouldn’t get a pass. And that is hard.”

She felt that truth, context, and humanity “were really missing at the beginning of 1998” and hoped to bring “an enormous amount of emotional truth” to the dramatization of those events.

Monica noted that she was very grateful for where her life is now and that she feels “incredibly lucky the last six or seven years to really be able to reclaim my narrative.” She remarked:

“I think a lot of people know about the story, but people are going to be very surprised when they watch it of things that they didn’t know happened. There were so many margin notes I had in the scripts of like, ‘Did this really happen?’ So even I learned things.”

Wow. Between Monica’s involvement, the incredible cast, and the opportunity to see this story told in a whole new light, Impeachment is shaping up to be a huge television event. We can’t wait to watch.

Ch-ch-check out Monica’s full Today appearance (below):