"I mean, there was a portion, of course, that I think, when I look back now, that there was a portion of what attracted me, must have been the awe of him being a powerful man in this environment, not to take away from who he is as a real person"
About this Quote
The phrase “in this environment” is doing the quiet, devastating contextual work. It gestures at the White House as a sealed ecosystem: hierarchy, proximity to history, and the intoxicating thrill of being seen by the most consequential man in the building. She doesn’t say “abuse” or “coercion,” but she’s naming the gravitational field that makes ordinary desire hard to separate from institutional awe. That’s the subtext: attraction can be authentic and still be engineered by context.
Then comes the ethical hedge: “not to take away from who he is as a real person.” It reads like a defensive maneuver learned from decades of public consumption, where any nuance is punished as either vindictiveness or complicity. Lewinsky is insisting on complexity without absolution, and on her right to interpret her own past beyond the caricatures the culture pinned to her. The intent isn’t to relitigate; it’s to reclaim a narrative where power is acknowledged, and personhood remains intact on both sides - the only way to tell the truth without turning it into propaganda.
Quote Details
| Topic | Romantic |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lewinsky, Monica. (2026, February 18). I mean, there was a portion, of course, that I think, when I look back now, that there was a portion of what attracted me, must have been the awe of him being a powerful man in this environment, not to take away from who he is as a real person. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-mean-there-was-a-portion-of-course-that-i-think-72972/
Chicago Style
Lewinsky, Monica. "I mean, there was a portion, of course, that I think, when I look back now, that there was a portion of what attracted me, must have been the awe of him being a powerful man in this environment, not to take away from who he is as a real person." FixQuotes. February 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-mean-there-was-a-portion-of-course-that-i-think-72972/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I mean, there was a portion, of course, that I think, when I look back now, that there was a portion of what attracted me, must have been the awe of him being a powerful man in this environment, not to take away from who he is as a real person." FixQuotes, 18 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-mean-there-was-a-portion-of-course-that-i-think-72972/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.




