Behind The Scenes With Monica

• Share

Why are we talking?

Because my client Monica Lewinsky has been subjected to a campaign of leaks questioning her reliability and sensibility. She has been raked over the coals by every single person with an interest, either close or remote, in this case. My whole media campaign and my decision to do this article have all been designed to demonstrate that my client is a responsible young woman who speaks the truth but got caught in the web of a complicated government conflict, orchestrated and engineered by people with a political and personal agenda. No one is funding her. No one is standing behind her. No one cares about her except us. And we have to tell the story.

I have known Monica all her life. She's the product of a phenomenon that is endemic in America--divorce. I've known both her parents and can personally attest to the fact that they didn't get along. That's why they got a divorce. But I also know this: Dr. Lewinsky worked very hard--full time as a radiation oncologist to treat cancer and at night as an emergency physician. He was, and is, a compassionate man. All this talk of a violent temper, of verbal abuse of his children and wife, has more to do with lawyers and divorce strategy than reality.

Monica did suffer some of the problems of children caught in a divorce. Keep in mind, she was 14 and at a formative age. But I really resent all of the tabloid-like allusions to Beverly Hills 90210, because Monica was no different from affluent kids anywhere else. She grew up with the morals of the '80s and '90s. Like all kids today, and in my time too, they make mistakes. But with the exception of a couple of mistakes--and Andy Bleiler was one of them--Monica was normal for her generation. She dated, she tested the line between adolescence and adulthood. She was not an affluent kid going to seek a thrill in Washington but a personable, well-educated young woman trying to build her credentials. She was looking for a career in public relations and communications. Working at the White House seemed like the ultimate job opportunity for any young person.

She's completely flabbergasted to find herself at the center of the storm. I'll be honest: I never imagined it either. I thought this was about Paula Jones v. William Jefferson Clinton. What's Monica feeling? She's feeling anxiety, fear, concern and, yes, anger. Who's going to give her a job after this? She is worried about her family. How mortifying all this is. When will she be able to walk in a park, go shopping at Target or on Rodeo Drive or Connecticut Avenue? Monica has been branded with a scarlet letter, an A for adultery. Now will she be branded with an I for indictment, a C for conviction and a J for jail? For what? Why is the world saying that she has the government of the U.S. in her hands?