Bill Clinton says he had affair with Monica Lewinsky to ‘manage my anxieties’: report
The infamous Lewinsky affair is a very controversial aspect of former President Bill Clinton's legacy. Today, he says the reason he initiated the affair in the first place was to keep his anxieties under control.
Former President Bill Clinton reportedly claims in an upcoming documentary that his affair with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky was one of the things he did to “manage my anxieties.”
“Everybody's life has pressures and disappointments, terrors, fears of whatever,” Clinton says in the “Hillary” documentary, according to The Daily Mail, when asked why he had the affair. “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.
HILLARY CLINTON GOES AFTER BERNIE SANDER AGAIN: HIS CAMPAIGN IS 'JUST BALONEY'
“You feel like you're staggering around, you've been in a 15-round prize fight that was extended to 30 rounds and here's something that will take your mind off it for a while, that's what happens,” he says.
The former president apparently apologizes to Lewinsky in the Hulu documentary series, which was viewed by DailyMailTV and will begin running Friday. In the doc, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discusses how the affair devastated her.
“I was just devastated. I could not believe it. I was so personally just hurt and I can't believe this, I can't believe you lied,” she says, according to the Mail.
The Lewinsky affair was one of a series of events that led to Clinton’s impeachment in the House, before he was ultimately acquitted in the Senate.
JUANITA BROADDRICK THINKS #METOO-ERA MEDIA WOULD HAVE TAKEN HER BILL CLINTON RAPE CLAIMS SERIOUSLY
Bill and Hillary remained married, although allegations of Bill’s affairs and sexual misconduct plagued them through Hillary’s 2016 presidential bid – with then-candidate Donald Trump bringing accusers to sit in the audience of one of the presidential debates.
Bill has also come under fresh criticism from within his own party as his conduct has undergone renewed scrutiny in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
In the documentary, he indicates that he has felt “terrible” as he has watched Lewinsky try and live a normal life in the wake of the scandal.
"I feel terrible about the fact that Monica Lewinsky's life was defined by it, unfairly I think,” he said. “Over the years I've watched her trying to get a normal life back again but you've got to decide how to define normal."
Representatives for the Clintons have not responded to a request for comment.
Fox News' Alex Pappas contributed to this report.
