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Monica Lewinsky has hopped on the meme bandwagon sparked by a Taylor Swift lyric, featuring a photo of the White House and labeling it as an “asylum.”
Several social media users have been utilizing the song lyric “You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me,” from “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” on Swift’s album The Tortured Poets Department. They humorously pair it with photos of places evocative of childhood memories or significant moments from their past, sometimes even times of trauma.
As for Lewinsky’s part, she posted the line from the song on X (formerly known as Twitter), alongside a photo of the White House, referencing the infamous Clinton-Lewinsky scandal from the ’90s.
The post captivated users, with many sharing their commentary and commending her for her wit in handling the situation. “Your ability to have a sense of humor over what they did to you is pretty inspirational,” one user wrote. Another said, “If tweeting was an Olympic sport, Monica Lewinsky won a gold medal with this gem.”
“Tweet of the year,” someone else quipped.
Leon Bennett/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images
Lewinsky, a 22-year-old intern at the White House at the time, became involved in a sexual relationship with then-President Bill Clinton, which subsequently triggered impeachment proceedings against him in 1998. Following the affair, she faced vilification and withdrew from public life for several years.
Reflecting on her experience over a decade later, “Not a day goes by that I am not reminded of my mistake, and I regret that mistake deeply,” Lewinsky shared in a 2015 TED Talk. “In 1998, after having been swept up in an improbable romance, I was then swept up into the eye of a political, legal and media maelstrom like we had never seen before.”
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