"This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character"
About this Quote
The line that really bites is “I don’t accept.” It’s not a plea for sympathy; it’s a refusal of the script. For decades, public narratives about the Clinton scandal managed a neat trick: they acknowledged the affair while framing her as the contaminant. “Desecrate my character” is loaded, almost religiously so. Desecration implies a deliberate violation of something that should have remained intact, suggesting that her reputation wasn’t merely collateral damage but a sacrificial offering to preserve someone else’s legitimacy.
Context matters: she spoke from the long afterlife of the scandal, in an era newly fluent in power imbalances and media pile-ons. Calling the relationship “mutual” can sound, to some, like minimizing coercion. That tension is the point. Lewinsky isn’t denying asymmetry; she’s rejecting the convenient morality play where mutual desire somehow justifies unilateral destruction. The subtext: even if consent existed, cruelty wasn’t inevitable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Betrayal |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lewinsky, Monica. (2026, January 15). This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-was-a-mutual-relationship-mutual-on-all-158964/
Chicago Style
Lewinsky, Monica. "This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-was-a-mutual-relationship-mutual-on-all-158964/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"This was a mutual relationship, mutual on all levels, right from the way it started and all the way through. I don't accept that he had to completely desecrate my character." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/this-was-a-mutual-relationship-mutual-on-all-158964/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.







