Monica Lewinsky has spoken up on the debilitating public ridicule she suffered in the wake of her white house sex scandal involving former President Bill Clinton.

The activist admitted that she’s had to endure trying times after the incident made headlines, as “billions of strangers” judged her.

Earlier this year, Monica Lewinsky said that she felt Bill Clinton got let off the hook easily and “escaped a lot more” than she did after the scandal.

Monica Lewinsky Makes Candid Comment About Her Struggle After White House Scandal

Nearly three decades after becoming a household name for a white house affair scandal with then-President Clinton, Lewinsky is opening up about the psychological toll of national infamy and the turmoil that followed the controversy.

During a sitdown conversation with Jane Buckingham as part of her being honored as the 2026 Woman of the 21st Century by the Women’s Guild Cedars-Sinai, Lewinsky acknowledged that the progression of her life has been somewhat “extraordinary” but explained that things have been particularly isolating for her.

The philanthropist said she no longer wants to minimize the impact the scandal had on her life, admitting it was difficult for her to bear.

“There have been some very dark moments. I don’t want to sugarcoat it,” she told the host, per Fox News Digital.

“I know we’re at a lovely luncheon, but I think it’s so important for people to understand,” Lewinsky added about the fallout from the affair.

Monica Lewinsky Was Shocked By How Women In The White House Treated Each Other

Back in 1995, a 21-year-old Lewinsky became an unpaid intern at the White House and later kicked off a sexual relationship with Clinton, who was 49 at the time.

Things may seemingly have stayed that way, but Lewinsky confided in her coworker, Linda Tripp, who secretly recorded their conversation, causing he scandal to go public.

Speaking about her experience at the White House, Lewinsky, who now uses her platform to advocate for anti-cyberbullying, ending public shaming, and social media empathy, said she never thought women in senior roles would go at each other the way she saw them do.

“I was very surprised when I worked in the White House because I had assumed that the women who were in senior roles there, that they would all be there to boost one another,” she said. “And it wasn’t that. And that, I think, was very eye-opening to me, aside from the things I went through in ’98.”

The Philanthropist Had To Do Energy Work To Be Able To Function Normally Again

At the height of the scandal, the situation seemed to be Clinton’s words against Lewinsky’s as he denied having anything to do with her, saying, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”

After that, Lewinsky went incognito to seemingly escape the backlash and heavy media scrutiny the incident had generated.

Elsewhere during her conversation with Buckingham, Lewinsky explained that she had to do a lot of energy work to move past the barrage of backlash she suffered and ward off negative energy that was coming to her.

“I’ve done an enormous amount of energy work for 20 years, which, if there are any woo-woo people in the room or anybody who saw ‘The Secret,’ you remember about this idea of energy coming toward you and negative thoughts being … energy coming toward you,” Lewinsky said.

She continued, “I was severely impacted by having billions of strangers thinking negatively about me. My energetic field wasn’t ready for that. So, I think that I worked hard with that, and I feel grateful. I really shed a lot of the bitterness. I think some of it is probably also buried.”

Monica Lewinsky Considered Taking Her Life Due To The Public Humiliation

Lewinsky shared earlier this year that she felt Clinton got off easier than she did, especially with the public backlash.

The then-president faced intense legal and political consequences, including impeachment in December 1998.

However, in February 1999, he was acquitted on both impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day U.S. Senate trial.

Lewinsky told The Times that she thought of taking her own life as the public humiliation was “excruciating,” and life at the time “was almost unbearable.”

The Philanthropist Called What Happened Between Her And Bill Clinton A ‘Gross Abuse Of Power’

According to Lewinsky, unlike her, Clinton “escaped” a lot of the public backlash she had to endure due to their affair.

“I haven’t spoken to him in almost 30 years, and I don’t know what his internal landscape is,” she said. “I think he escaped a lot more than I did.”

Although she later said their relationship was consensual, she maintained that it was still “a gross abuse of power. Full stop.”

She added, “That doesn’t mean I didn’t make mistakes, that I didn’t make wrong choices, that my behavior didn’t hurt other people. But at the heart of it was a gross abuse of power.”