An emotional Monica Lewinsky was reduced to tears after recalling the ‘aftermath’ of her scandal with former US president Bill Clinton.

The activist, now 52, was speaking at a screening of Hulu’s The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, which she executive produced alongside Knox herself, on Wednesday at Eagle Rock’s Vidiots theatre.

Lewinsky was discussing the case of Knox – who was wrongfully convicted of murdering her roommate in 2007 before later being exonerated – and the scrutiny that Knox endured after her trial became a media sensation.

‘When we started this project it was a time when we were beginning to revisit some young women’s narratives from the past through a more modern lens,’ Lewinsky told the audience. 

‘I myself had had that experience and so it’s to show yet again what happens when young women are thrust onto the world stage and feasted on by the media,’ she continued. 

At this point, Lewinsky started to choke up and become emotional. 

‘And I think some of what really moved me in the finale was… showing the aftermath, because it’s very hard for people to understand that this happens, not just to a person, but to a family,’ she said through tears. 

‘And the consequences can be very far reaching. As hard as the trauma can be to survive, surviving the aftermath is sometimes harder.’

An emotional Monica Lewinsky was reduced to tears after recalling the ‘aftermath’ of her scandal with former US president Bill Clinton

The activist, now 52, was speaking at a screening of Hulu’s The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox , which she executive produced alongside Knox herself, on Wednesday in Eagle Rock

Struggling to speak, a visibly shaken Lewinsky spluttered ‘sorry’ as Knox reached over to comfort her.

The audience then burst into applause for Lewinsky, who continued to wipe tears from her face for the next minute. 

Lewinsky made global headlines in 1998 after it was revealed that she’d had an almost two-year affair with then-president Bill Clinton, beginning when she was just 22 and he was 49. 

Speaking candidly about the ordeal on Elizabeth Day’s podcast How To Fail back in June, Lewinsky admitted that she felt like she was in love with Clinton at the time.

‘I think there was some limerence there and all sorts of other things, but that’s how I saw it then. I think it was also an abuse of power.’

Lewinsky also reflected on how a ‘bimbo’ narrative was forced upon her by the White House, despite her acquiring the job on her own merit long before her affair with Clinton even started.

‘My very first job out of college was working in the White House. I don’t think that that’s the kind of trajectory that someone thinks then 10, 12 years later, that person’s not going to be able to get hired,’ she said.

‘Then I worked in the Pentagon as well and travelled the world with my boss, who is the Pentagon spokesman, and we travelled with the Secretary of Defense.

At one point Lewinsky struggled to speak as she fought through tears while addressing the audience

Lewinsky made global headlines in 1998 after it was revealed that she’d had an almost two-year affair with then-president Bill Clinton, beginning when she was just 22 and he was 49

‘I’m by no means a genius, by no means going to be the cream of the crop but I wasn’t a bimbo. 

‘I wasn’t a dumb bimbo,’ she insisted.

‘So I was portrayed to be [a bimbo], and that was a big struggle for me to deal with that.’

Day then added, ‘And you were often portrayed as that by other women.’

‘Often by other women,’ Lewinsky responded. ‘But I think that that was a narrative that was crafted and put out by the White House so I think that mantle was picked up by a lot of women.’

Lewinsky’s infamous affair with former president Clinton eventually led to his impeachment.

On August 17, 1998, after multiple denials, the former leader appeared on television and finally confessed he was ‘solely and completely responsible’ for the relationship. 

After the affair was revealed, Lewinsky says that she was ‘painted as a stalker, mentally unstable, not attractive enough’ by the media and the public

Lewinsky has talked about the affair numerous times since it was made public.

She initially retreated from the public eye, admitting she was left feeling suicidal after being hounded by reporters and ridiculed on talk shows. 

‘I love and appreciate who I am now, but I think for so many different reasons, I would’ve liked a more normal life. I would’ve liked to have had a more normal trajectory,’ she told Day. 

During an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast this year, Lewinsky said that she was ‘painted as a stalker, mentally unstable, not attractive enough’ after the affair was exposed.  

‘There was so much collateral damage for women of my generation to watch a young woman to be pilloried on the world stage, to be torn apart for my sexuality, for my mistakes, for my everything,’ she said.