Monica Lewinsky claimed to be a “virgin to humiliation” that she endured when her fling with President Clinton became America’s 24/7 obsession.
Lewinsky will appear Sunday in her first TV interview since 2003, in the National Geographic special “The ’90s: The Last Great Decade?”
She vividly remembered the day special prosecutor Kenneth Starr’s report came out on Sept. 11, 1998, detailing every private detail of her White House affair.
“That was one of the worst days of my life. I was a virgin to humiliation of that level, until that day,” Lewinsky said.
“To have my narrative ripped from me, and turned into the Starr report, and things that were turned over or things they delved out of my computer that I thought were deleted. I mean it was just violation after violation.”
The 40-year-old Lewinsky broke a decade-long silence earlier this year with a lengthy essay in Vanity Fair.
In her Sunday National Geographic chat, Lewinsky repeated claims she made in the VF piece — that, as a woman, she was an easy target for snarky commentators.
“To be called stupid, and a slut, and a bimbo, and ditzy, and to be taken out of context, it was excruciating,” Lewinsky said.
“To be in the vortex of this media maelstrom was quite alarming, and frightening. And confusing. I think a lot, too, had to do with the fact that I was a woman.”
NBC News’ Brian Williams was also interviewed for “The ’90s” special and recalled the embarrassment he felt about Lewinsky headlines he was reading from the anchor chair.
“There were nights, because I had young children and I was a parent first, where I called home and just said, ‘Maybe this is a good night to mute the first part of the broadcast or keep the television off,’” he said.