Monica Lewinsky said her sexual relationship with President Bill Clinton in 1998 first emerged online rather than in print – and became "a click that reverberated around the world."
In a speech at a Financial Times conference, the former White House intern – now an activist against online bullying and abuse – said after her affair with Clinton broke online, she was "publicly stoned," Fortune reported.
The affair, which she called "a click that reverberated around the world," was exposed before there was Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. But emails "could be forwarded," and "in those emails could be some pretty cruel jokes," she said, per Fortune.
"My reputation wasn't shot down with just an arrow," she said, per Fortune. "I was publicly stoned."
Lewinsky said "It's time for an intervention on the Internet."
"Online, we've got a compassion deficit," she argued, saying compassion is what "saved" her, Fortune reported.
"I have seen some very dark days in my life," she said, per Fortune. "But empathy from one person can make a difference."
Lewinsky's message comes as GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has come under fire for fat-shaming former beauty queen Alicia Machado.
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