Monica Lewinsky facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Monica Lewinsky
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Lewinsky speaking at TED 2015
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Monica Samille Lewinsky
July 23, 1973 San Francisco, California, U.S.
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| Education | Santa Monica College Lewis and Clark College (BS) London School of Economics (MSc) |
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| Years active | 1995–2005; 2014–present |
| Employer | White House Office of Legislative Affairs The Pentagon |
| Known for | Clinton–Lewinsky scandal |
| Parent(s) | Bernard Lewinsky Marcia Lewis |
Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July 23, 1973) is an American activist and writer. A former White House intern, Lewinsky gained international celebrity status in the late 1990s as a result of the public coverage of a political scandal when U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted to ... with her during her days as an intern between 1995 and 1997. The affair, and its repercussions (which included Clinton's impeachment), became known later as the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal.
She subsequently engaged in a variety of ventures that included designing a line of handbags under her name, serving as an advertising spokesperson for a diet plan, and working as a television personality. Lewinsky left the public spotlight in the mid-2000s to pursue a master's degree in psychology in London. In 2014, she returned to public view as a social activist speaking out against cyberbullying, based on her experiences dealing with the media coverage regarding the scandal.
Early life
Lewinsky was born in San Francisco, California, and grew up in an affluent family in Southern California in the Westside Brentwood area of Los Angeles and later in Beverly Hills. Her father is Bernard Lewinsky, an oncologist, who is the son of German Jews who escaped from Nazi Germany, first moving to El Salvador and then finally to the United States when he was 14. Her mother, born Marcia Kay Vilensky, is an author who uses the name Marcia Lewis. In 1996, she wrote a "gossip biography", The Private Lives of the Three Tenors. Lewinsky’s maternal grandfather, Samuel M. Vilensky, was a Lithuanian Jew, and her maternal grandmother, Bronia Poleshuk, was born in the British Concession of Tianjin, China, to a Russian Jewish family. Lewinsky’s parents divorced in 1988 and each has remarried.
The family attended Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and Lewinsky attended Sinai Akiba Academy, the school affiliated with the Temple. For her primary education, she attended the John Thomas Dye School in Bel-Air. Lewinsky attended Beverly Hills High School for three years before transferring to Bel Air Prep (later known as Pacific High School), graduating in 1991.
Following her high school graduation, Lewinsky attended Santa Monica College. while working for the drama department at Beverly Hills High School and at a tie shop. In 1992, she began a five-year affair with Andy Bleiler, her married former high school drama instructor. In 1993, she enrolled at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1995.
With the assistance of a family connection, Lewinsky secured an unpaid summer White House internship in the office of White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. Lewinsky moved to Washington, D.C. and took up the position in July 1995. She moved to a paid posting in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs in December 1995.
In the 1990s, Lewinsky came into public view when American President Bill Clinton admitted to having a relationship with her while she worked at the White House as an intern in 1995 and 1996. This became known as the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal and resulted in Clinton's impeachment.
Lewinsky subsequently engaged in a variety of ventures that included designing a line of handbags under her name, serving as an advertising spokesperson for a diet plan, and working as a television personality. Lewinsky later left the public spotlight to pursue a master's degree in psychology in London. In 2014, she returned to public view as a social activist speaking out against cyberbullying, based on her experiences dealing with the media coverage regarding the scandal.
See also
In Spanish: Monica Lewinsky para niños
