Hillary Clinton signs her autobiography on June 12-th, 2003. PHOTO - TASR/AP
LONDON - Former U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton says she feels sorry for Monica Lewinsky and everyone who was caught up in the sex scandal over her husband and the White House intern. In an interview broadcasted on British television later on Friday, she also recalls the awful atmosphere between her and her husband when they went on holiday shortly after the scandal broke. In the interview with broadcaster Trevor McDonald on ITN‘s „Tonight“ programme, Clinton is asked if she felt sorry for Lewinsky, who now hosts a reality TV series in the United States called „Mr. Personality“.
„You know, I feel sorry for everyone who was caught up in this relentless partisan investigation,“ Clinton replied. „What about her in particular?“ McDonald asked. „Absolutely,“ Clinton said. „Do you feel sorry for her?,“ McDonald asked. „Absolutely,“ Clinton said again. She said there were „so many victims“ of the Lewinsky scandal, which she blamed on her husband‘s political enemies. „These people were willing to destroy anyone in order to end my husband‘s Presidency,“ she said. „And they continued it, even to the point where they were willing to subvert our Constitution to try to end his Presidency.“ Asked about her holiday with her husband, she said it was very difficult. „I wasn‘t able even to talk to him, and it was very hard because he not only was my husband, he had been my best friend for 30 years,“ she said. „The only member of our family who wanted to be with him was Buddy, our dog, and that is the unconditional love and loyalty of a pet, I guess.“
The former first lady‘s memoirs sold about 200,000 copies on the first day of publication in the United States this week. Simon & Schuster said sales had been so brisk that it had already ordered another 300,000 copies of the book to be printed on top of the 1 million copies printed for the launch. The publisher paid Clinton $8 million for her memoirs and hopes it will become the No. 1 non-fiction title of the year. The book reveals that President Clinton lied to her about his affair with Lewinsky for seven months, only admitting his dalliance days before his grand jury testimony. „As a wife, I wanted to wring Bill‘s neck,“ Mrs Clinton wrote. She describes herself as devastated by her husband‘s belated admission of infidelity and says she yelled and cried.
Reuters
