Monica, who was known for her infamous affair with former President Bill Clinton, also notes the differences between her and the 'Toxic' singer, admitting that while she 'made a mistake,' Britney didn't.

• Sep 3, 2021

AceShowbiz - Monica Lewinsky shows support to Britney Spears. In a new interview, Monica talked about how the media treated the pop singer and how the many apologies to her are long overdue.

"I think it's long overdue and wonderful to see it happening for different women in different arenas and scenarios," Monica, who had her own share of media scrutiny over her infamous affair with former President Bill Clinton, told In Style. "I made a mistake. Britney didn't."

She went on to say, "There were other young women this happened to, and there's an enormous amount of collateral damage. So I think it's not just an apology to a person; it's an apology to how you've affected a culture."

"What is sexual agency? What does it mean? It's not surprising that this de-objectifying of women is happening alongside the #MeToo movement. They braid together in a way that makes sense," the producer of FX's "Impeachment: American Crime Story" added.

Monica went on to recall her first encounter with the "...Baby One More Time" hitmaker. "It was in the early 2000s. She was with Justin Timberlake, and she was going into [former New York City department store] Henri Bendel just as I was leaving. I had my handbag company at the time, and she said she thought the bags were cute. I was beside myself, so I got her some," she shared.

Of how the world treated women in the spotlight, she said, "At that time I wasn't able to have the perspective to recognize, 'Oh, this is happening to other women.' When the fat-shaming happened to Jessica Simpson [in 2009], I thought, 'Oh, OK. This didn't just happen to me," Monica said. 'This is happening now to other people too.' Not that that's a good thing."

She then shared some advice to fellow women who were treated badly by the media, "You can survive it. There were many times I almost didn't, but I'm grateful that I was able to," Monica said of the intense media scrutiny she faced as a twentysomething. "You may feel like you're drowning, like you don't want to wake up tomorrow, that you wish you were someone else. But we all have wonderful qualities, even people who I disagree with vehemently politically."

"We're all loved by someone, so that's what would be the most important thing to me. The second thing is not suffering in silence. Not everybody has a smooth family life, but for me it has been. That's the reflection of who you really are," she concluded.