EXCLUSIVE: Bill Clinton's Memoir Was a 'Remorseful Plea' to Be 'Forgiven for the Unforgiveable' After Failing to Apologize to Monica Lewinsky Personally
Aug. 18 2026, Updated 7:23 p.m. ET
Bill Clinton expressed the "frustration" he felt when he was called out for allegedly not apologizing personally to Monica Lewinsky after their bombshell affair in his memoir, Citizen: My Life After the White House.
According to a source, the former POTUS, 79, may have rehashed the story in his book as part of a "plea to be forgiven" for his past mistakes.
Inside Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky's Affair
Bill Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky in the mid-to-late '90s.
Clinton and Lewinsky were involved in an 18-month affair while she served as a White House intern in the mid-to-late '90s.
He was impeached for allegedly lying under oath about his relationship with Lewinsky, but he was later acquitted by the Senate and finished out the remainder of his term. He also remained married to his wife, Hillary, despite his marital misdeeds.
Lewinsky, who was in her early 20s at the time of the affair, faced intense public shaming over the scandal and admitted that she struggled to maintain employment for years.
'I Fought to Contain My Frustration'
Bill Clinton was asked if he apologized to Monica Lewinsky during a 2018 interview on 'Today.'
During a 2018 sit-down with the Today show's Craig Melvin, the controversial politician recalled being grilled on whether he had offered Lewinsky an apology.
"I said that I had apologized to her and everybody else I wronged," Clinton wrote in his 2024 tell-all. "I was caught off guard by what came next. ‘But you didn’t apologize to her, at least according to folks that we’ve talked to.’"
"I fought to contain my frustration as I replied that while I’d never talked to her directly, I did say publicly on more than (one) occasion I was sorry."
NBC later shared a clip of him offering his public apology to a broad group of people, including Lewinsky, her family members, his own family and the American people as a whole.
"I meant it then, and I mean it today," Clinton said of the apology in an excerpt of the book.
However, he reportedly has yet to say he was sorry to Lewinsky on a more personal level.
'This Is His Remorseful Plea'
A source claimed Bill Clinton wants to be 'forgiven' for past mistakes.
Still, a source questioned his intentions behind including that excerpt in the book.
"This is his remorseful plea to be forgiven because he feels it’s time to do it before he dies," a source alleged of the aging former president in resurfaced comments. "He hopes he can get away with being forgiven for the unforgivable after being cruel and sadistic!"
Monica Lewinsky Doesn't Want Apology
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Monica Lewinsky said Bill Clinton should want to apologize to her in 2021.
As for Lewinsky, when she was asked if she believed she was still owed an apology during a 2021 interview on Today, she admitted she no longer needed one.
"I think there was a long period before my life changed in the last six or seven years where I felt a lot in terms of there not being this resolution. I'm very grateful that I don't have that feeling anymore," she told Savannah Guthrie at the time.
"And I don't need it," she continued. "He should wanna apologize, in the same way that I wanna apologize any chance I get to people that I've hurt and my actions have hurt."
