Getty Monica Lewinsky attends the premiere of FX's "Impeachment: American Crime Story" at Pacific Design Center on September 01, 2021 in West Hollywood, California.
Monica Lewinsky, who was the face of a national sex scandal and the butt of jokes for years, has vowed to never talk about her personal life. She has not publicly announced today that she was ever married or had any children. Lewinsky is now 48.
Lewinsky is reclaiming the public narrative about her life after the infamous affair with President Bill Clinton when she was an intern in her early 20s. The scandal shot her into the public spotlight and defined her public image. Years later, she re-emerged as a cyber bullying activist.
Lewinsky served as the “main consultant” for “American Crime Story,” reviewing scripts and sending her notes and comments to the creators, producer Brad Simpson said at a TCA event, according to Oprah Daily. Impeachment: American Crime Story is the third part of the FX limited series. It airs tonight, Tuesday, September 7, 2021, at 10 p.m. Eastern time.
Here’s what you need to know:
Lewinsky Has Said She Will Not Talk About Her Romantic Life & Wants to Keep it Private
Lewinsky told PEOPLE in 2015 that she will not talk about her dating or romantic life. She said that the public has known enough about her sex life in the past, and she has been determined to keep that part of her life private.
“You can ask it, but I keep my personal life private. I think people have known enough about my romantic life for a lifetime,” she said when asked about her dating life, according to PEOPLE.
Lewinsky has never announced publicly that she is dating anyone, got married or had any children. Instead, she uses her platform to talk about anti-bullying issues.
“Overnight, I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one worldwide. I was patient zero of losing a reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously,” she said in her 2015 TED Talk.
Lewinsky spoke candidly about the affair in her TED Talk, and described it as a mistake she regrets deeply. Lewinsky asked her audience for a show of hands, saying, “Who didn’t make a mistake at 22?”
“At the age of 22, I fell in love with my boss,” Lewinsky said on the TED Talk. “At the age of 24, I learned the devastating consequences.”
Lewinsky Has Said She Wanted to Have a ‘Normal’ Life With Kids & a Family
tomorrow … 7 Sept on @FXNetworks
here we go! 👀
#ImpeachmentACS @BeanieFeldstein @MsSarahPaulson @MrRPMurphy
@ACSFX
Lewinsky has repeatedly tried to claim a “normal” life, starting over in different cities including New York and London, according to a New York Times profile piece published in conjunction with a July 2021 screening and reception for Impeachment: American Crime Story. That normal life, including a husband, family and children, eluded her, according to the article.
“I wanted a job, I wanted a husband, I wanted kids,” she told The New York Times. “I wanted to be treated normally.”
She told The New York Times she moved to Portland, Oregon and “applied for 50 jobs” in marketing after earning her master’s degree, then moved back home to Los Angeles, California.
She told PEOPLE she gains satisfaction from the impact her story has on others who need to hear it and said she leads “a very full and fulfilling life” today.
“Do I wish my past were different? Absolutely,” she told PEOPLE. “But given all things not changing, I absolutely have had demonstrations where surviving what I have, has resonated for someone else.”
READ NEXT: Why Linda Tripp Secretly Taped Monica Lewinsky’s Phone Calls