Where is Monica Lewinsky now?13 years after Clinton testified, the former intern is trying to move on.
By Piper Weiss, Shine Staff
Posted by MydeaMedia
(getty/via mediabistro.com)
On August 17, 1998, Bill Clinton testified to his "improper physical relationship" with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. 13 years and countless political sex scandals later, Monica has finally been reduced to a historical mention and not the front page headliner she was for so many years.
In fact, it's hard to find much on Monica Lewinsky in 2011. In the early part of the new millennium, after she couldn't peel off her global reputation, she embraced it. She launched a line a handbags, pitched for Jenny Craig, hopped on the reality show bandwagon as the host of a failed dating show "Mr. Personality" and even joined Ian McKellan as his date to the Oscars.
But the spotlight didn't agree with her. The stage hadn't been entirely set yet for scandal-victims-turned-reality stars-turned-brand-moguls. And Monica also wasn't that kind of scandal victim. She wasn't a prostitute or a porn star, but a girl who made really bad romantic decisions at 21. Now she had her whole life to live with it.
So where is Monica now? After living in London and earning a masters in Social Psychology, she's last been spotted in New York, grabbing lunch in Soho with her old friend (post scandal, obvs) Alan Cumming and famed photographer Terry Richardson. He managed to snap a rare photo of her during a night out and posted it on his blog.
In fact, it's hard to find much on Monica Lewinsky in 2011. In the early part of the new millennium, after she couldn't peel off her global reputation, she embraced it. She launched a line a handbags, pitched for Jenny Craig, hopped on the reality show bandwagon as the host of a failed dating show "Mr. Personality" and even joined Ian McKellan as his date to the Oscars.
But the spotlight didn't agree with her. The stage hadn't been entirely set yet for scandal-victims-turned-reality stars-turned-brand-moguls. And Monica also wasn't that kind of scandal victim. She wasn't a prostitute or a porn star, but a girl who made really bad romantic decisions at 21. Now she had her whole life to live with it.
So where is Monica now? After living in London and earning a masters in Social Psychology, she's last been spotted in New York, grabbing lunch in Soho with her old friend (post scandal, obvs) Alan Cumming and famed photographer Terry Richardson. He managed to snap a rare photo of her during a night out and posted it on his blog.
(Via Terry Richardson's website)
According to friends she's still single. According to tabloids, it's because she never got over Bill. But as a 38-year-old urban-based career woman with some romantic baggage and a powerful ex, she's sounds not unlike most New York 30-something women.
It's not often she capitalizes on her connection with the Clintons. In 2007, she publicly apologized to Hillary and Chelsea on 20/20 and resurfaced in 2009 to speak with author and scholar Ken Gormley about how she believes Clinton lied about their relationship. It's also been reported she still has the infamous GAP dress. But beyond that, she's moved away from the Clinton scandal and out the spotlight. She doesn't even have a social networking presence, a rarity in 2011.
In some ways, that makes her a relic of a simpler time when scandal participants didn't have agents and airbrushed bikini shots on Facebook for easy tabloid access.
Monica, who's spent much of her 30's in hiding, seems a strange person to lead the pack. 13 years later, no matter what she accomplishes or how she reinvents herself to the public, she'll always be the first lady of scandal. The bad decision at 21 will haunt her for the rest of her life, at least publicly, and no matter how 'over' her first love she ever is, she'll be linked to him the rest of her life. Considering that fact, she seems to be doing okay.
It's not often she capitalizes on her connection with the Clintons. In 2007, she publicly apologized to Hillary and Chelsea on 20/20 and resurfaced in 2009 to speak with author and scholar Ken Gormley about how she believes Clinton lied about their relationship. It's also been reported she still has the infamous GAP dress. But beyond that, she's moved away from the Clinton scandal and out the spotlight. She doesn't even have a social networking presence, a rarity in 2011.
In some ways, that makes her a relic of a simpler time when scandal participants didn't have agents and airbrushed bikini shots on Facebook for easy tabloid access.
Monica, who's spent much of her 30's in hiding, seems a strange person to lead the pack. 13 years later, no matter what she accomplishes or how she reinvents herself to the public, she'll always be the first lady of scandal. The bad decision at 21 will haunt her for the rest of her life, at least publicly, and no matter how 'over' her first love she ever is, she'll be linked to him the rest of her life. Considering that fact, she seems to be doing okay.
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