By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-14 15:00:40 | Updated at 2024-11-22 02:23:00
1 week ago
Get caught having an affair with an intern and using the White House for your illicit liaisons and it turns out that it will follow you around for the rest of your life.
In his new memoir, former President Bill Clinton sets out his frustration at being questioned about the relationship years later and admits he never apologized directly to Monica Lewinsky.
Clinton, now 78, was impeached by the House of Representatives when it emerged in 1998 that he had lied about a sexual relationship with the then 22-year-old.
In 'Citizen,' published next week, he writes about a 2018 interview on NBC's 'Today Show' when he admits he was 'caught off guard' by questions on the subject.
According to The Guardian, which obtained a copy, he was expecting to talk about a new novel he had co-authored with thriller writer James Patterson.
But host Craig Melvin brought up the #MeToo movement and asked whether the affair would be a resigning issue now.
Clinton said no, insisting that he had to fight an illegitimate impeachment.
Melvin followed by quoting a Lewinsky column about how the #MeToo movement had changed her view of sexual harassment and whether Clinton also felt differently today.
US President Bill Clinton is asked about former White House intern Monica Lewinsky at a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema at the White House in 1999
A photograph showing former White House intern Monica Lewinsky meeting President Bill Clinton at a White House function submitted as evidence in documents by the Starr investigation and released by the House Judicary committee September 21, 1998
Clinton's new memoir is published Tuesday
'I said, "No, I felt terrible then,"' writes Clinton.
'"Did you ever apologize to her?" I said that I had apologized to her and everybody else I wronged. I was caught off guard by what came next.
'"But you didn't apologize to her, at least according to folks that we've talked to."
"I fought to contain my frustration as I replied that while I'd never talked to her directly, I did say publicly on more than [one] occasion I was sorry."'
He goes on to admit that the interview 'was not my finest hour,' but can't resist taking criticizing Melvin, writing that he was 'barely in his teens when all this happened, and probably hadn’t been properly briefed.'
And he admits that anger is best reserved for what happens to other people rather than oneself.
'I live with it all the time,' he says.
'Monica’s done a lot of good and important work over the last few years in her campaign against bullying, earning her well-deserved recognition in the United States and abroad. I wish her nothing but the best.'
Three years after Clinton's interview, Lewinsky herself said that did not need an apology for him, but that he should want to apologize for what he did.
