'I fell in love with my boss': Tearful Monica Lewinsky speaks out on Clinton affair

'My name is Monica Lewinsky - though I've often been advised to change it.’

That is how the bete noire of the late 90s introduced herself to a large crowd of millennials at Forbes’ Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia Monday morning, marking the beginning of Ms Lewinsky’s first public speaking engagement in more than a dozen years.

By the time Lewinsky concluded her emotional presentation on the perils of public humiliation in the digital age, the Twitter-sphere was abuzz with excitement over Lewinsky’s apparent comeback, showering her with praise for her courage.

Monica Lewinsky mistreated by prosecutors in Clinton investigation

Lewinsky, 41, joined Twitter less than two hours before taking the stage at the Forbes conference, where she was invited to speak about the ‘scourge of harassment in the digital age.’

‘Overnight I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one. I was Patient Zero, the first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the Internet,’ Ms Lewinsky told a rapt crowd in a room where, according to multiple eyewitness accounts shared on Twitter, one could hear a pin drop.

Lewinsky, best known worldwide for her sordid affair with President Bill Clinton, did not mince words when addressing that part of her biography.

‘Sixteen years ago, fresh out of college...I fell in love with my boss,’ Lewinsky declared from the stage in Philadelphia, before launching into an impassioned speech about the price she had been forced to pay for her youthful indiscretion. 

"Overnight I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one. I was Patient Zero, the first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the Internet." (Monica Lewinsky)

I lost my public self, or had it stolen,’ she said of her ruthless treatment at the hands of journalists and late-night comics. ‘In a way, it was a form of identity theft. 

‘In 1998, "public Monica, that Monica, that woman" was born. I was publicly identified and someone I did not recognize.’ 

Looking back on her experiences, Lewinsky explained to the 20- and 30-somethings in the audience that while there was no social media back in the 90s, there were 'gossip, news and entertainment websites' that latched onto the Clinton scandal, relishing each detail with gusto.

'Of course, it was all done on the excruciatingly slow dial up. Yet around the world this story went,' she recalled, according to Forbes. 'A viral phenomenon that, you could argue, was the first moment of truly "social media.”'  

Fighting back tears, Ms Lewinsky talked about how her mother was devastated by the suicide of bullied Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi in 2010.

‘She was back in 1998...when she might've lost me,’ Lewinsky confided in the audience, referring to the year when Drudge Report broke the news of her affair with the president online.

In the months that followed the bombshell revelations, an emotional Ms Lewinsky said she was constantly tormented by thoughts of suicide. 

Despite overwhelming odds, Lewinsky said she somehow managed to survive the bullying, relentless harassment and public humiliation, but her outlook for the future is tinged with pessimism.

‘There is a compassion crisis, an empathy deficit,’ she pointed out. ‘There's no way to wrap your head around when it will end.’

Lewinsky used her first foray into the public sphere in more than a decade to announce her plan to launch a 'cultural revolution' against cyber-bullying. 

The 41-year-old said she was inspired by Tyler Clementi's story to share her own tale of hardship and perseverance in a bid to prevent the next tragedy.

'Having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive, too,' she said. 'I want to put my suffering to good use and give purpose to my past.'

At the conclusion of her remarks, the audience gave Ms Lewinsky a roaring standing ovation.

Guests at the summit took to Twitter, describing Lewinsky’s speech as both ‘courageous’ and 'inspiring.’

The three-day conference hosted by Forbes Magazine opened in Philadelphia Sunday.

According to the description of the event on Forbes' website, the summit brings together more than 1,000 members of Forbes '30 Under 30' list of 'business leaders and mentors'.

'Lewinsky, who last talked publicly 13 years ago, will offer a singular perspective on what happened to her, and the scourge of harassment in the digital age,' Forbes explained in a statement.

Besides Ms Lewisnky, speakers at the summit will include this year's Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai, musician Questlove and model-turned-philanthropist Petra Nemcova. 

With the hashtag #HereWeGo, Lewinsky joined the Twitter community Monday just after 9am Eastern time, drawing more than 1,400 followers in the first 40 minutes. By 10.15am, Lewinsky, 41, already had 6,000 followers, and counting.  

After firing off her first tweet, Lewinsky quickly got the ball rolling, writing less than an hour later: 'excited (and nervous) to speak to #Under30Summit.'

Ms Lewinsky became a household name – and the butt of countless late-night jokes - after her affair with President Bill Clinton was leaked to the press in 1998, ultimately resulting in Clinton's impeachment.

After living in relative obscurity for more than a decade, Lewinsky penned an explosive tell-all article for Vanity Fair in May about the Clinton scandal and its destructive aftermath, describing her relationship with the married president as 'consensual.'

'Sure, my boss took advantage of me, but I will always remain firm on this point: it was a consensual relationship. Any ‘abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position,' Lewinsky wrote. 

'The Clinton administration, the special prosecutor’s minions, the political operatives on both sides of the aisle, and the media were able to brand me. And that brand stuck, in part because it was imbued with power.' 

She has since written several opinion pieces for the publication, including a blog post about cyber-bullying published in July, in which she talked about her reaction to 'Monica' jokes on the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black.

She also recently weighed in on the ongoing controversy surrounding hacked nude photos of female celebrities, writing in a personal essay that she felt outrage at the gross violation of privacy and compassion for the likes of Kate Upton and Jennifer Lawrence. (Daily Mail)