'I was mad at me': Bill Clinton says he's not proud of #MeToo remarks

  • 06/06/2018
Bill Clinton.
Bill Clinton. Photo credit: Getty

Bill Clinton has admitted he no longer stands by comments made in a recent interview about the #MeToo movement and Monica Lewinsky.

"I think I did the right thing," he had said in an NBC Today interview, defending his handling of the scandal surrounding his affair.

Mr Clinton was impeached in 1998 for lying to investigators when he denied the affair with the then 22-year-old, but was eventually acquitted and remained President.

In another interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the former President admitted he wasn't proud of the comments, and that the interview was "distilled".

"They had to distill it and it looked like it said I didn't apologize and had no intention to, and I was mad at me," Mr Clinton said.

"Here is what I want to say: it wasn't my finest hour."

He then went on to say he apologised to Ms Lewinsky when the affair broke two decades ago - and he still means it in 2018.

"That was a very painful thing that happened 20 years ago, and I apologised to my family, to Monica Lewinsky and her family, to the American people," he said.

"I meant it then; I mean it now. I have had to live with the consequences every day since. "

Ms Lewinsky was publicly vilified for the affair, and says she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the ordeal.

She said the #MeToo movement had helped her reflect on what she sees as "gross abuse of power".

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