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Monica Lewinsky says Bill Clinton ‘should want to apologise’ to her over scandal

Activist and former president had an affair, which is at the centre of the new ‘American Crime Story’ series

Clémence Michallon
New York City
Tuesday 07 September 2021 10:28 EDT
Impeachment: American Crime Story trailer released

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Monica Lewinsky has revealed whether she believes Bill Clinton owes her an apology.

The anti-bullying activist spoke to Savannah Guthrie on the Today show on Tuesday (7 September), hours before the premiere of Impeachment: American Crime Story in the US.

The series is a dramatisation of Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky and the circumstances that led to his impeachment by the House of Representatives in 1998. Lewinsky is a producer on the show.

“Do you ever wish that you could speak to him? Do you feel like he owes you an apology after all these years?” Guthrie asked Lewinsky.

Lewinsky replied: “There was a long period, before my life changed [in] the last six or seven years, when I felt a lot in terms of there not being that resolution. And I’m very grateful that I don’t have that feeling anymore. I don’t need it.

“He should want to apologise, in the same way I want to apologise any chance I get to people I’ve hurt and whom my actions have hurt.”

Clinton has apologised to Lewinsky publicly but not privately. In June 2018 he told Stephen Colbert: “Here’s what I want to say: It wasn’t my finest hour, but the important thing is that was a very painful thing that happened 20 years ago and I apologised to my family, to Monica Lewinsky and her family, to the American people. I meant it then, I meant it now. I’ve had to live the consequences every day since.”

Impeachment: American Crime Story will start airing in the US on FX on 7 September. A UK air date has yet to be confirmed. The show’s first two seasons aired on BBC Two shortly after being broadcast in the US.

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