Ronald Reagan’s daughter praises Monica Lewinsky
Patti Davis, daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan is praising Monica Lewinsky for telling all in a new A&E documentary series entitled “The Clinton Affair.”
Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s daughter, Patti Davis, is praising Monica Lewinsky for telling all in an A&E docuseries about her affair with Bill Clinton.
Earlier this month, the 45-year-old provided an in-depth reflection about the infamous saga in “The Clinton Affair,” a six-part series that examined the events that ultimately led to the president's impeachment on Dec. 19, 1998.
Davis, 66, wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post Wednesday in which she celebrated the former White House intern’s bravery for publicly speaking about her relationship with the then-president.
“At one point in the newly released A&E documentary series ‘The Clinton Affair,’ Monica Lewinsky says she now realizes part of her attraction to President Bill Clinton was that ‘someone who other people desired, desired me,” wrote Davis. “That’s an insight that one gains with time, with the grace of years. She was 22 years old when she fell hard for the most powerful man in the world; analyzing the situation assessing the risks, dangers, deceptions were not yet in her repertoire.
A photograph showing former White House intern Monica Lewinsky meeting President Bill Clinton at a White House function submitted as evidence in documents by the Starr investigation and released by the House Judicary committee September 21, 1998. (Courtesy of A&E)
“She may have been of legal age, as both Bill and Hillary Clinton have repeatedly pointed out, but a 22-year-old is still locked in the fantasies and flights of imagination that define the very young. Powerful men who seek out vulnerable people to play with know that. They know in advance that the dance floor is theirs, they will always be leading, and whatever damage is done to their dance partner will never fall on them.”
In her piece, Davis admitted she could identify with Lewinsky’s story. She described how at age 17, she became involved with her high school English teacher while attending a co-ed boarding school in Arizona.
“With no town or city around us, we were our own little world,” she wrote. “In that small sequestered domain, my teacher — while not president of the United States — was very powerful. He was also handsome, athletic and creative, and he took a strong interest in my writing.”
In “The Clinton Affair,” Lewinsky revealed that she and Clinton initially shared a number of “flirtatious encounters” before things escalated in November 1995 during the federal government shutdown. Lewinsky claimed Clinton would also find excuses to see her and the two would plan on how they could accidentally bump into each other.
(Courtesy of A&E)
Davis shared her own relationship with the unnamed teacher, who was married with two children, took a similar route.
MONICA LEWINSKY: 'I WAS GUTTED'
“I remember clearly the moment it started,” she explained. “After he sent flirtatious signals, I wrote a poem that was, obliquely and rather delicately, about him. He was monitoring study hall one night, and I crossed the room, handed it to him and went back to my seat. The look he gave me after reading it set in motion the next two years of my life.”
“Our intimacy was never actually consummated — he resolutely stopped short of intercourse, just as Clinton apparently did — but there was enough intimacy to fuel my dreams and make me hinge my life on him,” added Davis.
Davis said that one of the moments in “The Clinton Affair” that impacted her was when Lewinsky was ambushed by FBI agents in 1998 and taken to a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton. There, Lewinsky was held by prosecutors from the Office of the Independent Counsel until late in the night. The OIC was tipped by friend Linda Tripp, who revealed she knew about the affair, offering them taped conversations.
(Courtesy of A&E)
“I felt so much guilt,” said Lewinsky. “And I was terrified. There was a point for me… where I would be hysterically crying and then I would just shut down. And in the shut-down period, I remember looking out the window and thinking that the only way to fix this was to kill myself… I was scared. I was mortified and afraid of what this was going to do to my family. And I was still in love with Bill at the time. So I felt really responsible.”
Davis said her affair ended when she was 19. The pair were in the Midwest attending different colleges. The teacher was allegedly supposed to fly in and see Davis, but he never showed up.
“That night, when I knew he wasn’t going to come or call, I stood at a window looking out at the night, feeling that I had no reason to go on living,” wrote Davis.
Davis pointed out that Lewinsky’s story still resonates to women because powerful figures, whether in politics or not, can easily take advantage of those who are young and impressionable. She said many lessons can still be learned from Lewinsky’s experience.
Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. (Getty Images)
“Those who think Lewinsky should ‘move on’ and let the past go need to understand something about powerful men who dance with young girls: The story doesn’t have an end,” Davis explained. “It evolves and shifts, but it remains. That man left his mark in the softest creases of your soul — the places where as a young girl you dreamed, and believed, and trusted. The scars he left in those tender places will always be there. But just because that’s part of your story, it doesn’t mean you have to let it victimize you.
“Lewinsky is showing us that — in front of the whole world. I don’t know if I’d had that much courage. Her story played out on the world stage 20 years ago, and she’s brave enough to walk back onto that same stage and say, ‘Now you need to listen to my truth.’ … there is one thing that powerful men who prey on young girls fail to understand: Those girls grow into women who are able to say, ‘You didn’t break me. I’m stronger than these scars. I’m stronger because of them.’”
Lewinsky, who for years kept quiet about her relationship with Clinton, came forward in February for a Vanity Fair essay in which she described her ordeal as “a living hell,” adding that the experience of being publicly outed and ostracized back them resulted in her being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She now serves as an anti-bullying advocate.
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