Monica Lewinsky Revealed The Sneaky Trick She Used to Get Bill Clinton’s Attention Prior to Their Infamous Affair
Nearly 30 years ago, American activist Monica Lewinsky made headlines after it was revealed that she had an affair with U.S. President Bill Clinton. The scandal took the nation by storm, with many people itching to learn more about Lewinsky and Clinton’s secret relationship. While both kept the details of their affair to themselves at first, Lewinsky has opened up about their intimate encounters in recent years. She previously revealed the sneaky trick she used to get Clinton’s attention, which ultimately sparked their infamous love affair.
Monica Lewinsky developed a crush on Bill Clinton while working as a White House intern
In the 2018 documentary The Clinton Affair, Monica Lewinsky got candid about her infamous love affair with former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Lewinsky relived her and Clinton’s torrid encounters, which didn’t begin right away according to her. The former White House intern revealed that when she started working for the Clinton administration in 1995, she wasn’t attracted to the president, sharing that she viewed him as just an “old guy with wiry, gray hair.”
“Early on, there was this period where I had these strange encounters with these other interns, one in particular, of this girl gushing about the president, talking about how handsome he was,” Lewinsky said in the docuseries per People. “I just remember thinking to myself, ‘Ew, he is this old guy with wiry, gray hair! How could she find him attractive?'”
Lewinsky said that she maintained this impression of Clinton until she found herself standing in his presence for the first time.
“I was struck by the way that he had this ability to hold everybody who was there… everybody was sort of starry-eyed in his presence,” she continued. “I kind of have to laugh at my younger self. But that was when my crush started.”
Monica Lewinsky’s crush soon turned into something more
After getting “the full Bill Clinton” effect, Monica Lewinsky’s crush developed. However, after attending a staff party at the White House in November 1995, her crush became a full-on attraction.
During this time, Lewinsky upped the ante by flashing her thong to the President, marking the start of their saucy affair.
“I realized the top inch or two, oh my God, of my underwear was showing, my thong underwear, and I thought, ‘Well I’ll up the game.'” Lewinsky explained. “I knew [Bill] was walking out of a room, and instead of pulling my trousers up as I would have done in any other instance, I didn’t. It was unnoticeable to anyone else in the room, but he noticed.”
Shortly after, Clinton called the then 22-year-old into his office, where she made her feelings for him known.
“I don’t think that at that point in my life, my heart had ever beat as fast,” Lewinsky said. “I blurted out, ‘You know I have a crush on you?’ And he laughed and smiled and then asked if I wanted to go into the back office. And I did. It was dark, and he eventually asked me if he could kiss me, and I said yes.”
She added, “After a little time, I went back to my desk, and at some point later in the evening, I was the only person in the office, and he came back in, and he said ‘if you want to meet me in the back study in 10 minutes, you can.’ And I did. It became more intimate from there.”
The pair maintained a secret relationship for the next few months. They even continued seeing each other after Lewinsky’s superiors relocated her to the Pentagon after feeling she spent too much time with Clinton.
While at the Pentagon, Lewinsky told her co-worker Linda Tripp about her relationship with the president. But unbeknownst to the young professional, Tripp began secretly recording their conversations in 1997. Soon after, Lewinsky and Clinton’s affair became public, rocking the presidency to its core.
Monica Lewinsky fought to include the thong scene in FX’s ‘Impeachment’
Years after the undoing of her fateful relationship with Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky is bringing her story to the small-screen with the upcoming series, Impeachment: American Crime Story.
The FX drama, which premieres on Sept. 7, 2021, will follow Lewinsky and Clinton’s affair that ultimately led to his impeachment in 1998.
Though the series will highlight some key moments in Lewinsky and Clinton’s relationship, it will also include the seductive thong flashing encounter, which writers initially left out of the script.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lewinsky said that writer Sarah Burgess didn’t want to include that particular scene in the upcoming drama series because she worried about “retraumatizing Monica.”
However, Lewinsky, who served as a producer on the show, opted to keep the scene in and convinced Burgess to reconsider.
“Listen, I would’ve loved to have been really selfish and said, ‘That’s great that you guys think we don’t have to show that, fantastic,’ but I’m incredibly experienced in understanding how people see this story,” Lewinsky explained. “So, ultimately, I felt two things: One was that I shouldn’t get a pass because I’m a producer; and two, that it was unfair to the team and to the project because it would leave everybody vulnerable.”
Impeachment: American Crime Story premieres on Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 10 p.m. ET on FX.
