Bill Clinton opens up about apologizing to Monica Lewinsky: ‘I live with it all the time’

Get caught having an affair with an intern and using the White House for your illicit liaisons and it turns out that it will follow you around for the rest of your life.

In his new memoir, former President Bill Clinton sets out his frustration at being questioned about the relationship years later and admits he never apologized directly to Monica Lewinsky.

Clinton, now 78, was impeached by the House of Representatives when it emerged in 1998 that he had lied about a sexual relationship with the then 22-year-old.  

In ‘Citizen,’ out next week, he writes about a 2018 interview on NBC’s ‘Today Show’ when he admits he was ‘caught off guard’ by questions on the subject.

According to The Guardian, which obtained a copy of the memoir, Clinton was expecting to talk about a different book, a new novel he had co-authored with thriller writer James Patterson.

But host Craig Melvin brought up the #MeToo movement and asked whether the Lewinsky affair would warrant his resignation if it happened today.

Clinton said no, insisting that he had to fight an illegitimate impeachment. 

Melvin followed by quoting a Lewinsky column about how the #MeToo movement had changed her view of sexual harassment and asked whether Clinton also felt differently today.

A photograph showing former White House intern Monica Lewinsky meeting President Bill Clinton at a White House function submitted as evidence in documents by the Starr investigation and released by the House Judicary committee September 21, 1998

Clinton’s new memoir is published Tuesday

Recalling the exchange, Clinton writes: ‘I said, “No, I felt terrible then.”‘

‘”Did you ever apologize to her?” I said that I had apologized to her and everybody else I wronged. I was caught off guard by what came next.

‘”But you didn’t apologize to her, at least according to folks that we’ve talked to.”

“I fought to contain my frustration as I replied that while I’d never talked to her directly, I did say publicly on more than [one] occasion I was sorry.”‘

The 42nd president goes on to admit that the interview ‘was not my finest hour,’ but he still can’t resist criticizing Melvin, writing that the ‘Today’ host was ‘barely in his teens when all this happened, and probably hadn’t been properly briefed.’

And he admits that anger is best reserved for what happens to other people rather than oneself.

‘I live with it all the time,’ he says. 

‘Monica’s done a lot of good and important work over the last few years in her campaign against bullying, earning her well-deserved recognition in the United States and abroad. I wish her nothing but the best.’

Three years after Clinton’s interview, Lewinsky herself said that she did not need an apology from him, but that he should want to apologize for what he did.