Monica Lewinsky has expressed concern about the public's reaction to the trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard and warned of the ‘larger implications’ it could have.
Lewinsky is a former White House intern who had an affair with President Bill Clinton while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996.
When the affair became public, Clinton was impeached and Lewinsky received intense public scrutiny and ridicule.
Lewinsky addressed the trail in an op-ed she wrote for Vanity Fair which was published on Tuesday (31 May) after the trial’s conclusion last week.
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“Unless you’re a troglodyte, you’ve been exposed to something about the Depp v. Heard trial in the past few weeks,” she begins.
“Like many, I have averted my eyes—with guilty fascination—even as I’ve kept track of the defamation conflagration."
Lewinsky addresses the way the consumption of ‘gossip, news and entertainment news’ has changed over the years, from the televised court case of O.J. Simpson in 1995 to the live streaming of the Depp v. Heard trial via YouTube, leading to ‘memes, video clips and TikTok nuggets’.
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She then writes about the memes she has encountered online about Heard and the ‘vitriolic discourse’ that targets her. “I wasn’t surprised that the memes about Amber Heard far outnumbered those about Johnny Depp.
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"I wasn’t surprised that the cruel and vitriolic discourse was predominantly aimed at the woman. And I shouldn’t have been surprised (but I was) that shortly after my search, I began to be served suggested posts on the trial.”
Heard addressed the death threats made to her and her daughter on the stand in court last week.
When asked by her attorney Benjamin Rottenborn to describe the impact of her allegations of abuse, the Rum Diary actress said: “I am harassed, humiliated, threatened every single day. Even just walking into this courtroom. Sitting here in front of the world. Having the worst parts of my life, things I lived through, used to humiliate me.”
Lewinsky now works as an activist and has spoken out against cyberbullying. Her story was covered in Impeachment: American Crime Story for which she served as a producer.
Featured Image Credit: ShutterstockTopics: News, Johnny Depp