MONICA Lewinsky pushed for more scandalous details to be added to Impeachment: American Crime Story during the production process, even as others working on the show worried about “re-traumatizing her.”
In the film, actress Beanie Feldstein, who portrays Lewinsky, will be seen flashing her thong underwear to Clinton during a social event.
While this was something that actually happened, writer Sarah Burgess revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she originally kept the scene out of the script for fear of “re-traumatizing Monica,” however, Lewinsky was the one who called for the scene to be included.
“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 said.
“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.”
Clinton, then 49, denied the affair with White House intern Lewinsky; Linda Tripp recorded Lewinsky speaking about the affair and handed the tapes over to federal lawyers.
The case was settled in 1998 when he paid out $850,000 – but the accusations triggered the Starr Report and the Senate impeachment that almost ended his presidency and is the focus of American Crime Story.
Read our Impeachment: American Crime Story blog below to keep up to date with all of the updates...
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CLINTON FLEW ON EPSTEIN’S JET
Speaking on her podcast “Chasing Ghislaine” investigative journalist Vicky Ward claimed the former President flew on Epstein’s jet, dubbed the “Lolita Express”, in February 2005 while visiting Japan, Taiwan, and China.
Clinton also reportedly flew on a private jet owned by billionaire Ron Burkle with Maxwell during a trip to India in November 2003.
That visit came as part of Clinton’s work with his eponymous foundation, as he sought to lower the costs of drugs to treat AIDS.
Both of the trips had previously been undisclosed.
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LEWINSKY SPILLED ALL TO LINDA TRIPP
Lewinsky claimed she had sexual encounters with the married president, then aged 49, on nine occasions, until March 1997.
Lewinsky confided about the relationship to Tripp – her defense department co-worker, who secretly recorded telephone conversations.
Tripp persuaded Lewinsky not to wash her “blue dress”, which was damning evidence as it was covered in Clinton’s semen stain.
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WHAT WAS MATT DRUDGE’S ROLE IN THE SCANDAL?
The Clinton-Lewinsky affair reportedly lasted for two years before it was made public in 1998 when Matt Drudge broke the story on his site the Drudge Report.
He leaked details of a phone conversation Tripp had recorded of Lewinsky venting about the affair after the young intern had confided in her co-worker.
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LEWINSKY PUSHED FOR TELL-ALL SERIES
Lewinsky reportedly pushed Impeachment’s makers to include even her more scandalous actions in the new show, including a scene in which she flashed her thong to Clinton during a social event to get his attention.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
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TWITTER REVVS UP FOR SERIES PREMIERE
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INFAMOUS BLUE DRESS EVIDENCE
During the investigation, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr managed to acquire a blue dress from Lewinsky with Clinton’s semen stain on it and testimony from her that the president had inserted a cigar into her vagina.
She said she didn’t notice the stained dress at the time but only realized it when she took it off afterward.
Tripp had persuaded Lewinsky not to wash the dress when they spoke about the affair and it became damning evidence.
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CLINTON INITIALLY DENIED AFFAIR
When the scandal broke, Clinton immediately denied the affair while Lewinsky was forced to hide from public attention in her mother’s residence at the Watergate complex.
Clinton uttered the now infamous line “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky” days later on January 26, 1998, during a televised White House news conference with wife Hillary standing alongside him.
“There is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship, or any other kind of improper relationship.”
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‘MOST HUMILIATED PERSON IN THE WORLD’
Lewinsky became an infamous figure in the late-90s as she was featured in SNL skits and as the butt of the joke in many late-night talk-show hosts over the affair.
As Lewinsky said in a Ted Talk in 2015: “Overnight, I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one worldwide. I was patient zero of losing a reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously.”
She has said that the exposure left her feeling like the “most humiliated person in the world” after the affair almost brought down Clinton’s presidency.
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WHO IS PAULA JONES?
Paula Corbin Jones was born September 16, 1966 in Lonoke, Arkansas.
She is an American civil servant who sued US president Bill Clinton for sexual harassment in 1994.
In October 2016, Jones took part in a press conference with Trump before a presidential debate to express dissatisfaction against Hillary and Bill Clinton.
Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey, who also accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment, attended the conference.
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CLINTON PRAISES RAHM EMANUEL AND NICK BURNS
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WHAT WERE THE EARLIER ‘AMERICAN CRIME STORY’ SEASONS?
In the first season, the show went through the murder trial of O.J. Simpson and was based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book, The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson.
The second season, which premiered two years later, was subtitled, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, and was based off Maureen Orth’s book, Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History.
Season two explored the murder of fashion designer Versace during Cunanan’s killing spree.
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‘THONG FLASH’
The Lewinsky series has been in development since 2019 and alongside, writer Sarah Burgess, the two are aiming to get everything right.
Never denying the scandal, Lewinsky has since embraced her story, including adding a detail in the series that was reported by the press back then.
In the film, actress Beanie Feldstein, who portrays Lewinsky, will be seen flashing her thong underwear to Clinton during a social event.
While this was something that actually happened, Burgess revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she originally kept the scene out of the script for fear of “re-traumatizing Monica,” however, Lewinsky was the one who called for the scene to be included.
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WHERE IS BILL CLINTON?
Bill Clinton has been out and about in Sag Harbor, New York alongside friends and family.
As he vacations in the Hamptons, producer Ryan Murphy has been working on a series based on Clinton’s impeachment and affair with Lewinsky, who is also serving as a producer.
The series is set to premiere on September 7, 2021, at 10pm on FX.
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BILLY EICHNER TO PLAY MATT DRUDGE
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WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME OF CLINTON’S IMPEACHMENT?
In a televised speech, President Clinton said he did not have sexual relations with Lewinsky, but the investigation on the matter led to perjury charges against him and his impeachment by the House of Representatives.
President Clinton was acquitted of the impeachment perjury charges and obstruction of justice in the Senate trial.
The Office of the Independent Counsel granted Lewinsky immunity in exchange for her testimony, and she became a pop culture celebrity.
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NEW REVELATIONS FROM LINDA TRIPP’S MEMOIR
An excerpt of Tripp’s memoir published by the New York Post details Clinton’s August 1996 birthday party at Radio City Music Hall, which Lewinsky attended and allegedly succeeded in squeezing the president’s private parts.
“She would gush that she had maneuvered into a position to grab his genitals with no one being the wiser, delighted to have given ‘the Big He’ a little love massage,” Tripp wrote about Lewinsky.
Tripp claimed that Lewinsky told her in November of that year: “You absolutely won’t believe this, but I squeezed his balls right in the middle of throngs of people!”
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‘MANAGE MY ANXIETIES’
In a new documentary, Clinton said he had sex with Lewinsky to “manage anxieties.”
He said: “Things I did to manage my anxieties for years. I’m a different, totally different person than I was, a lot of that stuff 20 years ago.
“Maybe it’s just getting older but I hope it was also going through a lot of this.
“But whatever, what I did was bad but it wasn’t like – how can I think about the most stupid thing I could and do it. It’s not a defense, it’s an explanation. I feel awful.”
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BILL CLINTON SPILLS ABOUT MARITAL TROUBLES
Speaking in a new explosive documentary which will air on Hulu about his wife, called “Hillary”, he revealed the pair underwent “painful” marriage counselling after his affair.
His relationship with Lewinsky in the 1990s nearly brought down his presidency, and the public backlash resulted in her feeling like “the most humiliated woman in the world”.
And he has now recalled the moment he told his wife “exactly what happened” and said he “felt terrible about it”, according to a clip published by DailyMail.com.
Clinton said: “I went and sat on the bed and talked to her. I told her exactly what happened, when it happened. I said I feel terrible about it.”
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WHO WAS LINDA TRIPP?
Linda Rose Tripp was an American civil servant.
Tripp secretly recorded intern Monica Lewinsky’s boasts about having an affair with former president Bill Clinton, before handing it over to investigators.
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CLINTON SPOTTED WITH FRIENDS OF EPSTEIN
Clinton, 75, was pictured boarding a yacht with Alfonso and Pepe Fanjul in Sag Harbor, New York, on Tuesday.
Both Clinton and Pepe Fanjul were close to convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and appeared in his “black book” with wealthy and influential contacts, reports claim.
The Fanjul brothers who own a sugar and real estate empire worth over $8 billion have been close to the Clinton family for decades.
Alfonso “Alfy”, 84, is a longtime Democratic donor, while Jose “Pepe” 77, donated to Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
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LEWINSKY SPILLS ABOUT NEW SERIES
On August 6, Lewinsky spoke to Vanity Fair about the series, saying: “People have been co-opting and telling my part in this story for decades.
“In fact, it wasn’t until the past few years that I’ve been fully able to reclaim my narrative.”
Additionally, she participated in a question and answer segment with Vanity Fair and revealed that her “greatest regret” in life is “that some of my choices have caused others suffering,” Lewinsky said.
Lewinsky is one of the producers of the FX drama.
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WHEN WAS THE AFFAIR REVEALED?
News of Clinton and Lewinsky’s relationship broke in January 1998.
On January 26, 1998, Clinton stated: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky,” in a nationally televised White House news conference.
The matter instantly occupied the news media, and Lewinsky spent the next weeks hiding from public attention in her mother’s residence at the Watergate complex.
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CAST OF IMPEACHMENT POSES AT THE PREMIERE
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LEWINSKY’S CAREER
Since the scandal broke, 48-year-old Lewinsky tried to reinvent herself a number of times.
In September 1999, she became a handbag designer with accessories bearing her name.
In April the following year, she became a spokeswoman for Jenny Craig, Inc, while in March 2002 she appeared in the HBO special, Monica in Black and White, part of the America Undercover series.
She then moved overseas and in January 2007 she graduated from the London School of Economics with a Master of Science degree.