Though she once surely wished she'd never see a camera flash pointed at her or her face on a newspaper again, Monica Lewinsky is using the world's decades-long fascination with her for good.
She has come a long way since the days she was a beret-loving college graduate thrust into scandal and hostile interrogations on behalf of the late Kenneth Starr, after her affair with former President Bill Clinton was made public on January 17, 1998.
Below, see what the activist and writer, now 50, has been up to in the years since, from her powerful anti-bullying efforts, her latest Reformation campaign, and her personal life.
© GettyWhat did Monica Lewinsky do after the Bill Clinton scandal?
She initially embraced her new status as a public figure (and as someone who owed over a million dollars in legal fees), and went on to give a record-breaking interview to Barbara Walters that was watched by 70 million people, launched a handbag line named The Real Monica Inc., became a spokesperson for Jenny Craig – Monica was not only intensely vilified, bullied and slut-shamed, but her weight and looks were also incessantly made fun of – and became host of reality dating show Mr. Personality.
Still, she later wrote for Vanity Fair: "Apparently, others talking about me is okay; me speaking out for myself is not," and by 2005, she had moved to England to study at the London School of Economics, and spent the next several years away from the spotlight, often struggling professionally and financially.
© GettyWhat does Monica do now?
In 2014, Monica stepped back into the spotlight with the aforementioned essay for VF titled Shame and Survival – she has continued to be a contributor for the outlet – in part inspired by the 2010 death of college freshman Tyler Clementi, who took his own life after he was secretly recorded kissing another man.
Easily considered the poster child of online bullying, she has since spent much of her time focusing on anti-bullying and anti-cyber-bullying advocacy through various initiatives, including her role as strategic advisor for Bystander Revolution, an anti-bullying organization founded by Mackenzie Scott.
© GettyIn 2021, she founded her own production company, Alt Ending Productions, in partnership with 20th Television, and more recently, she became the face of Reformation's new workwear collection and their "You've Got the Power" campaign, which is focused on upping voter registration and awareness ahead of the 2024 election.
MORE: Monica Lewinsky's fans are in love with her new haircut
Moreover, though women were once at the forefront of the contempt she faced, her perception – at least in the eyes of younger generations – has transformed. She is now largely seen for who she really was: a young woman who was taken advantage of by her boss (who just so happened to be the most powerful man in the world at the time), and whose life was virtually ruined for it. "At the age of 22, I fell in love with my boss. And at the age of 24, I learned the devastating consequences," she said in a 2015 TED Talk.
Plus, on social media, she's not afraid of taking cheeky jabs at her past; part of her bio on X reads "rap song muse," for the never-ending name drops she still gets in songs or otherwise, and in response to a 2019 tweet asking about the worst career advice one had ever received, she hilariously responded: "An internship at the White House will be amazing on your resume."
What about her love life today?
Though she's not afraid of both thoughtful and humorous conversations about her past, one thing she'll likely never share with the public again is details about her love life. "I kinda feel if anybody has earned a right to have their romantic life private, it's me," she told People in 2021, adding: "Those relationships are very precious to me, even the one or two who turned out to be putzes. But I've learned a lot."
She did share at the time that she's "not married yet" but "I do date," and as of 2024, there's no further information on her dating life. On the topic of marriage, she also told the outlet: "I don't know if that will happen or not, and I'm more okay with that than I used to be."
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