A former US President, Bill Clinton, has opened up about his affair with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky while he was US President.
A report in Linda Ikeji indicates that, in a new documentary about the life of Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton claimed he had sex with Ms Lewinsky – who was just 22 at the time – to relieve the pressures of the job.
He said he saw his intern as “something that will take your mind off it for a while”. He added that leading the country, makes you feel like “you’ve been in a 15 round prize fight that was extended to 30 rounds”.
Having an affair, Mr Clinton said, was among “things I did to manage my anxieties for years”.
Former presidential candidate and secretary of state Mrs Clinton told the documentary she was devastated by her husband’s infidelity.
“I could not believe it. I was so personally just hurt and I can’t believe this, I can’t believe you lied,” she said.
The documentary is in four parts and will be available to watch on Hulu from Friday. One episode of the documentary focused on the affair. In that episode, Mr Clinton offers an apology to Ms Lewinsky, who in recent years has begun to publicly speak out about their relationship, saying her view of it changed during the #MeToo movement. She struggled for years to fight her life being defined by the affair.
The former president said he felt “terrible” that her life had been “unfairly” tainted by it.
Hilary Clinton and Bill Clinton were interviewed separately for the show and they both reflected on Bill Clinton’s initial lie when he was asked during a deposition about having sex with Monica Lewinsky, before admitting to the nation that they had in fact had a sexual relationship. The relationship, and Mr Clinton lying about it during a deposition, led to his impeachment. He was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.
The couple recounted what it was like when the President informed the First Lady about the affair and how she told him that he needed to inform their daughter himself.
“I said, ‘If this is going to be public, you have got to go tell Chelsea,'” Hillary Clinton says, adding that she personally felt “devastated and so personally hurt.”
