Bill Clinton Finally Explains Why He Had an Affair with Monica Lewinsky—and It's as Lame as You'd Expect

If you ever wanted to know exactly why Bill Clinton had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, he’s got an explanation for you now.

The 42nd president reveals in the forthcoming Hulu documentary “Hillary” that he had the affair because it helped to “manage my anxieties,” resulting from the pressures of the presidency. His affair, he claims, was a distraction from those pressures.

“You feel like you’re staggering around, you’ve been in a 15-round prize fight that was extended to 30 rounds and here’s something that will take your mind off it for a while, that’s what happens,” he said. “Because there, whatever life — not just me. Everybody’s life has pressures and disappointments, terrors, fears of whatever. Things I did to manage my anxieties for years. I’m a different, totally different person than I was, a lot of that stuff 20 years ago,” he said.

“What I did was bad but it wasn’t like: how can I think about the most stupid thing I could and do it,” he added. “It’s not a defense, it’s an explanation. I feel awful.”

The former president also expressed regret for how the scandal impacted Monica Lewinsky.

“I feel terrible about the fact that Monica Lewinsky’s life was defined by it, unfairly, I think,” he said. “Over the years I’ve watched her trying to get a normal life back again, but you’ve got to decide how to define normal.”

You can watch the trailer for the documentary below:

The documentary will premier on Friday, March 6, 2020. It will feature campaign footage from 2016, as well as exclusive interviews with Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, friends and journalists, and the twice-failed presidential candidate herself.

_____

Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis