WATCH ABOVE: Online producer Yuliya Talmazan talks about an impassioned speech made by Monica Lewinsky at TEDxVancouver on the publicity she faced after the impeachment scandal and the role of public shaming in our society.
Monica Lewinsky is back and she is carrying a torch for victims of cyber-bullying.
The former White House intern who had a sexual relationship with then-president Bill Clinton in 1998 appeared in a TED talk Thursday night in Vancouver, claiming she was the first victim of online harassment in the nascent Internet world.
In a report from BBC news, Lewinsky said the no-holds barred ridicule of her affair made the already-public disgrace much worse. Called a “slut,” a “whore” and a “bimbo” online, Lewinsky said the scandal took away her dignity and nearly took away her life.
WATCH ABOVE: Lewinsky’s powerful message is trending on YouTube
Lewinsky’s clandestine affair exploded onto the front pages in 1998 and nearly ended the presidency of Clinton. While Clinton famously denied under oath that that he did not have sex with her, minute and revealing details of the affair were the subject of a congressional investigation and the grist for the online news and gossip mill for years afterwards.
In her talk, Lewinsky spoke of the death of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers student who committed suicide when his roommate posted video online of him having sex with another man. Lewinsky said the death was tragic and senseless and was a turning point for her in dealing with her own online humiliation.
She said cyber-bulling can push young people who are not equipped to handle horrific embarrassment to take their own lives.
Lewinsky said she was ‘patient zero’ of online bullying which made any kind of career afterwards difficult. She published her version of the affair in her book, Monica Lewinsky, sold a line of handbags, appeared in commercials for Jenny Craig and in a Fox reality television dating program.
WATCH ABOVE: “I was first person to have reputation destroyed via the Internet”
But she disappeared from the public eye in 2005 while she completed a Masters of Science degree from the London School of Economics. At the TED talk Thursday night, she said she was the only 40-something woman in the world who didn’t want to be 22 again.
Receiving a standing ovation at the talk, Lewinsky urged people to be more compassionate when commenting online and to try and place themselves in other people’s shoes before they quickly condemn their behaviour.
Comments