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| Monica Lewinsky |
Monica Lewinsky has broken a decade-long silence to announce her campaign to end cyberbullying and today's toxic culture of internet shaming. In her first ever public address, the former mistress of President Bill Clinton revealed her plan to launch a "cultural revolution" against the sort of online harassment she experienced firsthand in the late 1990s.
"I was Patient Zero," said Lewinsky, now 41, to an auditorium full of 1,000-plus high-achieving millennials at Forbes' inaugural 30 Under-30 summit in PA. "The first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the internet."
Lewinsky became emotional telling of the miserable months after then-unknown gossip website the Drudge Report broke the news of her relationship with Clinton - a public humiliation exacerbated by the release of the Starr Report online later that year, offering intimate details of their trysts.
"Staring at the computer screen, I spent the day shouting: 'oh my god!' and 'I can't believe they put that in' or 'That's so out of context,'" she said. "And those were the only thoughts that interrupted a relentless mantra in my head: 'I want to die.'"
Lewisnky noted the story of Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who killed himself in 2010 after intimate photos of him were posted online. Lewinsky called the tragedy "one of the principal reasons I'm standing here today." She met with Clementi's parents. She intends to share her story with victims of cyberbullying and online harassment.
Tom's Take: Sorry honey..you have yourself to blame for making a wrong decision.
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