Clinton ruined me to defend himself, says Lewinsky
The photographs, taken at the beginning of their affair in November 1995, mark a historical moment in time, and though it's been nearly ten years, time hasn't healed all wounds.
As Bill Clinton tours America to promote his autobiography, My Life, Monica Lewinsky has taken to the airwaves to defend her reputation.
In an exclusive interview with ITV news last night, Ms Lewinsky said Clinton "destroyed" her while trying to defend his presidency.
Hitting back, the former White House intern said she had been dreading the book's release.
She told ITV News that she was upset by the former President's claims that he had the affair with her "because he could".
"I was really upset when I first heard it. I have spent the past several years working so hard to just move on, and to try and build a life for myself. It has been so difficult because of so many of the lies that he has told about me and about what happened," Ms Lewinsky said.
She told interviewer Mary Nightingale: "Me talking to you is not at all about revenge. There are plenty of things I could do if I wanted to get revenge. But a big, big, big part of what has made my moving on so difficult has been the way I was characterised and the stories that were out there, until I testified.
"He says he was proud of the way that he defended the presidency at my expense. He leaves that part out.
"I can understand someone wanting to save his presidency. But I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character, which not only affected me, but my family, my friends and my future."
In the interview, Miss Lewinsky accused the former US President of trying to rewrite history in his memoirs.
"Having read some accounts of what was in this book, I was already disappointed, but curious. Probably still a bit naive, thinking, well, maybe there's a surprise, maybe he'll be a different, more mature person than what we have seen in the past few days. But I was wrong," she said.
Her interview follows this week's US launch of the former President's autobiography, My Life.
Ms Lewinsky said: "I really wish that I didn't have to comment on this book, just as I didn't comment on Mrs Clinton's book.
"I really didn't expect him to talk in detail about the relationship, because he is a married man and he has worked hard to stay married and it would be inappropriate, I think, to discuss the details.
"But what I was hoping, and did expect, was for him to acknowledge and correct the inaccurate and false statements that he and his staff made about me when they were trying to protect the presidency.
"His strategy to try and defeat Ken Starr was to debase my character.
"In the process he destroyed me, and that was the way he was going to have to do that, to get through impeachment...
"I was only 24 years old. I was a young girl and to hear him saying some of the things he was saying today, it's a shame."
Miss Lewinsky insisted she had a "relationship" with Mr Clinton.
"It was a mutual relationship. This is something that I never wanted to talk about publicly and I know he wished had never become public. But this was a mutual relationship, from the way it started, all the way through," she said.
In his 957-page memoir, Mr Clinton tells how he slept on the sofa for two months after admitting his affair.
In My Life, the former President writes that his White House affair with Miss Lewinsky revealed "the darkest part of my inner life".
Mr Clinton, 57, has received an advance of €8.25 million for the memoir. More than two million advance copies have already been ordered.
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