Bill Clinton Finally Reveals Why He Cheated With Monica Lewinsky In New Documentary — Watch
The new Hulu series is dropping a lot of truth bombs.
Getty It's been a long time since Bill Clinton was in the White House but thanks to a new Hulu documentary, he's opening up about a dark part of his past that happened while he was in office.
This week, Hillary hit the streaming service, and it included Clinton talking about his affair with Monica Lewinsky... including what made him do it.
So why did Bill Clinton cheat with Monica Lewinsky? Here's everything we know about the revelations Clinton shares in the new docuseries.
1. The sex scandal involving Clinton and Lewinsky led to his impeachment in 1998.
At the time of the scandal, Clinton was president, while Lewinsky was a 22-year-old White House intern. Though the affair took place between 1995 and 1997, it wasn't made public until 1998, when Clinton famously said that he did not "have sexual relations with that woman" on national television. Though this led to Clinton being impeached, he was later acquitted and remained president until the end of his second term.
2. But why did Bill Clinton cheat with Monica Lewinsky? He says it was to "manage" his anxiety.
In the new Hillary documentary, Clinton opened up about the affair, saying his affair with Lewinsky was an "irresponsible risk," but one he took to manage his anxiety.
“You feel like you’re staggering around — you’ve been in a 15-round prizefight that was extended to 30 rounds, and here’s something that’ll take your mind off it for a while,” he said in the documentary. “Everybody’s life has pressures and disappointments and terrors, fears of whatever, things I did to manage my anxieties for years.”
3. Clinton has said he feels bad about what the scandal did to Lewinksy's life — but doesn't directly apologize.
In the documentary, Clinton also shared that he went to marriage counseling with his wife, and that he felt bad about the aftermath that Lewinsky has faced since.
“I feel terrible about the fact that Monica Lewinsky’s life was defined by it, unfairly I think,” Clinton said. “Over the years I watched her trying to get a normal life back again. But you gotta decide how to define normal.”
4. In the documentary, Hillary opened up about what Bill cheating on her was like.
At first, she said she didn't speak to her husband for awhile,and he was likely talking to his friends and playing golf, but ultimately, she made the hard decision to stay in their marriage.
“I defended and stood by him because I thought the impeachment process was wrong,” she said in the series. “But that wasn’t the necessary answer to what I would do with my marriage. It was not to me the same thing. I still had to decide whether I wanted to stay in the marriage, whether I thought it was worth saving. We saw a counselor. Painful, painful discussions.”
5. These days, Lewinsky keeps a good sense of humor about everything that happened back then.
Though the affair with Clinton obviously had a huge impact on Lewinsky's life going forward, she jokes about what happened when the opportunity presents itself. Last summer, when responding to a tweet about bad career advice people had been given, she famously said, "an internship at the white house will be amazing on your resume."
6. Hillary is now streaming on Hulu.
Hillary, a four part docuseries about her life, is now available to watch on Hulu.
"A remarkably intimate portrait of a public woman, Hillary interweaves revealing moments from never-before-seen 2016 campaign footage with biographical chapters of her life. Featuring exclusive interviews with Hillary Rodham Clinton herself, Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, friends, and journalists, the series examines how she became at once one of the most admired and vilified women in the world," says Hulu's description of the series.
Nicole Pomarico is an entertainment and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Cosmo, Us Weekly, Refinery29, and more.