Dua Lipa‘s At Your Service podcast returned Friday with Monica Lewinsky as the first guest of the new season.
The women discussed a myriad of topics, including public shaming, the #MeToo movement and former President Bill Clinton.
News broke in January 1998, when Dua was only 2, that then-President Clinton engaged in an extramarital affair with Lewinsky, who was 24 at the time.
Lewinsky revealed her parents experienced intense pain and fear that she was “being publicly humiliated to death.”
The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal became the focus of American Crime Story: Impeachment, of which Lewinsky served as a producer. As for why she decided to be a part of the production, Lewinsky explained, “When you’ve gone through the kinds of things I’ve gone through, you come to recognize that any input in something around your narrative is better than nothing… [My] goal was really to shift a collective consciousness in a way that this couldn’t happen to another young person again.”
The two discussed feminism and why the idea of a “perfect victim” is harming the cause. Lewinsky said feminists tend to attack and “dehumanize” women who don’t “tick every box” because they think that makes it harder “to know what the right course of action is.”
“No matter what, somehow we managed to always point fingers at the woman, whether there was a mistake that happened there or not” Dua agreed. “We’re always found with the woman picking up the pieces.”
Both expressed optimism that progress is being made but were unsure if it’s happening quickly enough. Dua cited the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which she says created “a really scary time” because women’s rights have gone “10 steps backwards.”
Lewinsky expressed hope that Dua’s generation will stay informed and committed to change things for the better.
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