Monica Lewinsky Is (Reluctantly) Revisiting ‘That Woman’

As a producer on the new FX series “Impeachment,” she hopes to reframe her story and boost her burgeoning Hollywood career. But that doesn’t mean the experience has been easy.

“This is surreal,” Monica Lewinsky kept saying. She was trying to make her way to her seat in a crowded room where everyone wanted her attention. It was a hot summer night in New York, in a blip of a pandemic reprieve before the delta variant hit, and the city’s vaccinated elite were practically vibrating with energy. Nobody had been to a party like this in a long time. The occasion was a July screening and reception to promote FX’s “Impeachment,” the latest installment of Ryan Murphy’s “American Crime Story” anthology series, which revisits the events leading up to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton through the perspectives of the women involved. Lewinsky is a big part of that story, of course. So is Linda Tripp, the friend who exposed her affair with the President; Paula Jones, who had accused him of sexual harassment; and, to a lesser extent, Hillary Clinton. But Lewinsky is the only one who is a producer on the show.