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originally published on WildWeb, 3/18/99
High School Sweetheart
By
ALLYSON KRIEGER / She’s been compared to everyone from Jezebel to
Princess Diana, spoofed on Saturday Night Live and mocked on "60
Minutes," betrayed by a friend in front of the world and unwittingly
pushed to the forefront of popular culture. A search for her name yields
42,647 Web pages on AltaVista, Lycos has built a dedicated Celebrity Guide,
and you can buy her domain name for a minimum bid of just $50,000. The
T-shirt costs $15.95, her likeness was the year’s most popular Halloween
costume – and don’t forget the book!
Gratuitous? Sure. But these examples serve to prove just how pervasive (and perverse) the interest in Monica Lewinsky is – and how a fundamentally sad story became a topic of national humor. Monica’s a figure who evokes both sympathy and disgust, and while most of us can't stand the sight of her anymore, we still want to hear what she has to say. So when she sat down with Barbara Walters for her first public interview on ABC, America watched avidly what was perhaps the biggest TV event of our generation.
White teeth glistening, fingernails lacquered to sheer perfection and glossy hair slicked back helmet-style like a well-groomed slope, "that woman, Miss Lewinsky" has finally spoken.
As "20/20" began its two-hour tour, we anticipated anxiously interview queen Barbara Walters' questions -- would they be probing? Personal? Fluff? Well, Walters is no dummy. She knows that the root of fascination lies in the sexual component of this tale (Whitewater didn't spawn 42,000 Web pages, now did it?) and she played this card like a pro. Framing her questions as clinically and analytically as possible, Walters managed to bring up the dress, the cigars, Clinton's lack of ejaculation and phone sex while appearing relatively unruffled (and suspiciously naïve) herself. (What exactly is "phone sex," anyway?)
For her part, Monica most overwhelmingly came across as a sweet, star-struck schoolgirl. Amazingly still able to laugh about the affair, she dished the dirty details to Walters like a 3 a.m. recap in the freshman dorm. The blue dress? "It was funny." What do you call an affair that doesn't involve intercourse? "Messin' around." The end of the road? "He broke up with me." Eyes averted downward at times, Monica -- repeatedly claiming that she was "embarrassed" by the graphic references -- giggled through her version of the illicit affair that's titillated the world.
You knew where Monica was coming from early into the interview when she referred to flashing the president her thong underwear as a "small, subtle, flirtatious gesture." She was "enamored" with him at first, she said -- and what 22-year-old nubile ingenue wouldn't be flattered by a wink-wink from the leader of the free world? In her defense, Monica made us understand why she pursued the relationship. Insecure and immature, she was like any teenager who suddenly caught the eye of the most popular football player in school. Who could blame her?
The interview wasn't all a laughing matter. Shamelessly, Walters made Monica sit through video of Clinton denying the affair, then admitting to it months later. "I felt like a piece of trash, I felt dirty and used," she said of the way the president referred to her. She was "violated and betrayed" by Linda Tripp, and her thoughts on Ken Starr weren't fit for repetition. Though Walters mostly stuck to facts we've already heard, there were a few lesser-known tidbits that kept the talk from being merely a he said, she said affair. Monica apparently had another relationship during the time frame that led to an abortion she didn't tell Clinton about. She also confessed to needing antidepressants and coming close to suicide, and talked about the fact that Clinton bought Hillary the same Leaves of Grass book he gave her. Finally, she added another chapter to the story that combines the irresistible elements of sex, conspiracy, politics and shame.
Whereas other women have lined up beside the former intern as the scope of the Clinton scandal expands near daily, no one has captured the national interest quite like Ms. Lewinsky. We wanted to know: Why did you do it? Did he really like you? What's it like to be a celebrity only for who you've "messed around" with? In trying to make us understand her side of the scandal, Monica both won and lost. Ah, we can now say, she's just an impressionable young girl who was seduced by the attention and the excitement of an affair with such a powerful married man. She is, after all, likable, and intelligent, and she could be our sister, our friend, our daughter.
But Monica
was no more accurate than when she cried at the thought of never having
an everyday date again. "How am I ever going to have a sense of normalcy?"
she asked rhetorically, knowing she's as branded as Hester Prynne. Monica
gained celebrity not though great acts or even great acting – but
by way of a scandal the world will never forget. So though Monica Lewinsky
may have said her peace, and she may have gained the nation's sympathy
– cigars and Walt Whitman still will never be the same.
WildWeb | March 18, 1999