'Public shaming as a blood sport has to stop': Monica Lewinsky

Monica Lewinski at the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party on February 22, 2015 in Beverly Hills. Photo / Getty

Monica Lewinsky, who was widely vilified and ridiculed when details of her infamous affair with former US president Bill Clinton surfaced in 1998, revealed that not one political player who mocked her at the time has ever apologised.

"Public shaming as a blood sport has to stop," Lewinsky said during her first ever public ticketed talk at the Park City Institute in Utah.

When Lewinsky was 24 years old she became internationally famous overnight as the most private details spread on the internet.

Bill Clinton hugs Monica Lewinsky at the Democratic Fundraiser in Washington, DC, October 23, 1996. Photo / Getty

"Overnight I went from being a completely private person to being completely publicly humiliated," Lewinsky told an audience of about 1000 on Saturday.

Lewinsky, now 44, said during her 45-minute speech that when her name and hours of tape were published as part of the Starr Report, she suffered "devastating consequences", according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

"I was branded a tramp, a tart, a slut, a bimbo, a floozy, and of course, 'that woman'," Lewinsky said.

Lewinsky called for a revolution of compassion as she spoke out against online bullying and harassment.

Photograph showing former White House intern Monica Lewinsky meeting President Bill Clinton at a White House function. Photo / Getty

Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky at a White House party. Photo / Getty

"A marketplace has emerged where public humiliation is a commodity and shame is an industry," she said.

"Cruelty to others is nothing new, but online, technologically enhanced shaming is amplified, uncontained, and permanently accessible. The echo of embarrassment used to extend only as far as your family, village, school or community, but now it's the online community, too. Millions of people, often anonymously, can stab you with their words, and that's a lot of pain."

During a Q&A, Lewinsky responded to a questioner that none of the main players in the political or media circus that shamed her ever apologised.

Lewinsky urged the audience to report instances of cyberbullying or to respond online instead with a kind comment toward the target of the harassment.

Her speech, which opened the Park City Institute's 20th-anniversary season, echoed that of her headline-making 2015 TED talk, The Price of Shame.

The former White House intern released a book to tell her side of the Clinton scandal. Photo / Getty

That speech has been viewed more than 11 million times.

Teri Orr, Park City Institute executive director, told the Park Record that it was a humbling experience to hear Lewinsky's TED talk in 2015.

"We found that she is someone who has a compelling, and sadly, a timely story to tell," Orr said.

"We all judged from afar and we all got it wrong," Orr added.

During the 2015 speech, Lewinsky received a standing ovation after Lewinsky announced that she was making efforts to reclaim her voice after a decade of self-proclaimed public silence.

In November, Lewinsky, appeared on UK TV to share her experience of cyber bullying, and revealed how she felt "the whole world was laughing" at her.

She also spoke about her campaign against cyber-bullying that encourages people to "click with compassion".

Lewinsky shared her tips on how to cope for people being targeted, having lost her own "digital reputation" overnight.

Monica Lewinsky leaves Howard County Court on December 16, 1999, after testifying in a pre-trial hearing investigating Linda Tripp's secret recording of their conversations. Photo / Getty

Asked what she would say to her younger self if she could, the activist replied: "Hold on to who you are."

She said: "What's different about being harassed or shamed online is there's no border, it's not at school or if I made a gaffe at a dinner party where it's a contained audience, when it happened online you feel like the whole world is laughing at you.

"I couldn't count how many horrible things people online had said about me, but I could count when somebody said something face to face on one hand," she added.

The Lewinsky scandal broke in 1998, when a news report emerged saying then-President Bill Clinton had an affair with Lewinsky, who was a White House intern.

She was ruthlessly mocked on early online message boards and comment threads, and considers herself to be one of the very first victims of cyber bullying.

Speaking on ITV, Lewinsky said: "It's hard for us to imagine in today's world because of the internet, things break within seconds, but from a personal perspective, to have gone to bed as a private person and to awaken the next morning with the world knowing me was shocking.

Lewinsky, photographed in November 2017, now fronts anti-bullying campagins. Photo / Getty

"There was no one who had gone through an online scandal in the same way losing a digital reputation overnight," she added.

In November, Lewinsky, who has worked as a fashion designer and activist since the scandal, gave tips on how to prevent cyber bullying.

She advised thinking before you click, and recommended asking yourself whether you'd say what you're typing to someone's face.

Lewinsky also urged people not to click on anything that publicly shames another person, and to support people who are suffering by sending messages and even nice emojis so they feel less alone.

Clinton first forcefully denied the allegations, saying in January 1998 in a public statement: "I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me ... I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

He eventually admitted in August 1998 to having an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky.