Lewinsky blows back

Monica Lewinsky has broken nearly a decade of silence to say she was "troubled" by Hillary Clinton's impulse to "blame the woman" for the affair that nearly brought down Bill Clinton's presidency.

Nearly 20 years after her liaisons with Clinton in the White House, Lewinsky's re-emergence could cast an unwelcome shadow as Hillary Clinton considers a probable second presidential bid in 2016.

In an article for Vanity Fair, Lewinsky says she is speaking out to "take back my narrative and give a purpose to my past", but her comments about Hillary Clinton have generated the most interest.

"I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton. Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened," she writes, adding that it was time to "burn the beret and bury the blue dress", a reference to the infamous piece of clothing that became semen-stained during an encounter with the president.

Now 40, Lewinsky maintains her relationship with Clinton was "consensual", but adds: "Any 'abuse' came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position."

Lewinsky claims she turned down $10-million in various offers because it "didn't feel like the right thing to do". Various commercial ventures over the years have never taken off.

Responding to a recently disclosed 1998 conversation between Hillary Clinton and a confidante, in which the former first lady described Lewinsky as a "narcissistic loony toon", she says if that were "the worst thing she said, I should be so lucky".

Hillary Clinton in part blamed herself for the affair, saying she had not been "sensitive enough" to her husband's emotional state.

Lewinsky writes: "Hillary Clinton wanted it on record that she was lashing out at her husband's mistress. She may have faulted her husband for being inappropriate, but I find her impulse to blame the woman - not only me, but herself - troubling."

The renewed focus on Clinton's past infidelities will be welcomed by some of his wife's political opponents as they look for ways to derail her potential bid for the White House.

Rand Paul, a Republican senator likely to run for president, has recently taken to describing Bill Clinton as "a sexual predator".

• Lewinsky takes the opportunity to correct Beyoncé for her use of her name in the hit Partition, in which she sings: "He popped all my buttons, and he ripped my blouse/He Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown."

"Thanks, Beyoncé," writes Lewinsky, "but if we're verbing, I think you meant 'Bill Clinton'-ed all on my gown'."

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