Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky is a former White House intern with whom the former United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having an inappropriate relationship while she was working at the White House from 1995 and 1996. The affair was later termed into Lewinski scandal which was much publicized. After this controversial scandal, Lewinsky got a huge public attention and went on to open various ventures like selling handbags, being a television personality and an advertising spokesperson for a diet plan, before getting exhausted of the media and moving to London to pursue a masters degree in psychology. She is also a fashion designer and writer.
Monica Lewinsky's Bio, Early Life, And Professional Career
Monica Lewinsky was born Monica Samille Lewinsky on 23rd July 1973 in San Fransisco, California to father Bernard Lewinsky (an oncologist) and mother Marcia Kay Vilensky (an author). She grew up in a well-heeled family in Southern California in the Westside Brentwood area of Los Angeles and in Beverly Hills. Her maternal grandfather, Samuel M. Vilensky was a Lithuanian Jew whereas her maternal grandmother Bronia Poleshuk was born in Britain concession of China to a Russian Jewish family.
Lewinsky's parents had a rancorous divorce in 1988 which resulted in a momentous effect on her. Her father went on to marry his current wife Barbara and her mother married R. Peter Straus a former director of the Voice of America. Monica went on to attend Sinai Akiba Academy and for her primary school, she attended the John Thomas Dye School based in Bel-Air.
Lewinsky then went on to attend Beverly Hills High School and then transferred to Bel Air Prep from where she graduated in 1991. Monica joined Santa Monica College and worked at the Beverly Hills High School for the drama department.
Monica later attended the Lewis & Clark College based in Portland, Oregon and graduated in the year 1995 with a psychology degree. With the help of her family, Monica got to become an unpaid intern at White House in the office of White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta in July 1995. After few months Monica moved to a paid position in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. By the time, Lewinsky was beginning to fit in Lewinsky’s superiors send her to The Pentagon because they felt she was spending too much time with Clinton.
Monica Lewinsky's Scandal
Monica Lewinsky had already begun a relationship with Bill Clinton which she later told to her Defense Department co-worker Linda Tripp who secretly recorded all their phone conversations. Lewinsky told Tripp that she had nine sexual encounters with Clinton between November 1995 and March 1997 which included fellatio and other sexual acts in the Oval Office.
Lewinsky later told in her testimony that the two had no sexual intercourse. Before all of this, there were allegations that Clinton has sexual misconduct with former Arkansas employee Paula Johns who had filed a civil lawsuit against him telling that Clinton had sexually hara s sed her. Later in January 1998, Tripp discovered that Lewinsky had sworn an affidavit in the Paula Jones case denying she had any relationship with Clinton.
Thus Lewinsky handed over the telephone conversation recordings to Kenneth Starr who was investigating Clinton’s other matters including the Whitewater Scandal, the White House FBI files scandal and also the famous White House travel office controversy.
Finally, in January 1998, the relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky was unraveled and the news was all over the internet and media. Clinton’s famous line “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky” which he said to defend himself on 26th January of the same year is till date laughed at.
Lewinsky had a hard time hiding from the media for several days. Her affair with Bleiler also came into light during the time so he handed over to Starr Corporation, the souvenirs, photographs, and doc u ments that Monica had sent his wife. Starr obtained a blue dress with Clinton’s semen stain and a testimony from her saying that Clinton had inserted a cigar tube to her v*****a.
Clinton still denied having committed perjury. Later Clinton and Lewinsky were called for a grand jury where Monica was granted transactional immunity by the United States Office of the Independent Counsel in exchange of her testimony. This scandal led to criticism and name calling like Monicagate, Lewinskygate, also Sexgate and Zippergate regarding the Lewinsky scandal and Watergate Scandal.
After Scandal
Lewinsky cooperated with Andrew Morton in writing of Monica’s Story which is all about of her life and about the Clinton affair. She was interviewed on ABC’s 20/20 on 3rd March 1999. The program was watched by more than 70 million Americans and she earned $500000 from her participation in the book and from the interview, she earned $1 million but she was still low on paying legal bills and living costs.
Monica appeared in Saturday Night Live on May 8, 1999. Then in September 1999, she commenced her own line of handbags bearing her name under the company name The Real Monica, Inc. She also started appearing for Diet Company Jenny Craig, Inc. for which she was to lose 40 pounds and would get $1 million. But later in February 2000 the company stopped running her ads and paid her only $300000.
In the same year, she began working for British Channel 6 on the show entitled Monica’s Postcards. She also appeared and told her side of the affair in the HBO Special titled Monica in Black and White which was a part of the America Undercover series. In 2003, she was the host of Fox Television Network’s reality dating program, Mr. Personality. Monica then stopped selling handbags and moved to London to get a Masters of Science degree in social psychology at the London School of Economics.
Due to her infamous scandal, Lewinsky never got a permanent job. Monica wrote an essay for Vanity Fair in May 2014 titled “Shame and Survival” where she wrote about the scandal and her life. She was interviewed later in July 2014 on a three-part television special titled The 90s: The Last Great Decade aired on The National Geographic Channel.
Monica Lewinsky's Net Worth And Salary
Monica Lewinsky has earned a considerable amount of money from her career. According to the celebrity net worth, she has a net worth of $500 thousand. She is also a fashion designer and her salary is around $48,466 in a year.
In the same year, she began working for British Channel 6 on the show entitled Monica’s Postcards. She also appeared and told her side of the affair in the HBO Special titled Monica in Black and White which was a part of the America Undercover series. In 2003, she was the host of Fox Television Network’s reality dating program, Mr. Personality. Monica then stopped selling handbags and moved to London to get a Masters of Science degree in social psychology at the London School of Economics.In the same year, she began working for British Channel 6 on the show entitled Monica’s Postcards. She also appeared and told her side of the affair in the HBO Special titled Monica in Black and White which was a part of the America Undercover series. In 2003, she was the host of Fox Television Network’s reality dating program, Mr. Personality. Monica then stopped selling handbags and moved to London to get a Masters of Science degree in social psychology at the London School of Economics.
Monica Lewinsky's Personal Life, Husband, And Affair
Monica Lewinsky is not married to anyone and doesn’t have kids. She is also not dating anyone officially at present. In October 2014, Monica took a public stand against cyberbullying and she also spoke to Forbes magazine “30 Under 30” Summit about her life after the scandal and she wants’ to help the people who are similarly affected.
It was also reported that Monica had a five-year affair with her rumored boyfriend Andy Bleiler, her high school drama instructor.
Lewinsky stands at the height of 5 feet 6 inches.