SHE'S GOT THE POWER

Monica Lewinsky was on suicide watch after the humiliating Bill Clinton scandal, but she has now turned her life around and become a force to be reckoned with

- NICI DE WET

A PORTLY pepperpot, a tramp, a tart, a bimbo, a ditz, a predator . . . the list of insults that have been lobbed her way is long and nasty.

Women jeered at her, men leered at her and lewd jokes at her expense came thick and fast.

Monica Lewinsky was the White House intern with President Bill Clinton’s DNA on her blue dress and that was how she was destined to be remembered.

She once described herself as “the most humiliated person on Earth”, and for years she couldn’t imagine having any thing resembling a normal existence.

But Monica managed to turn things around, take charge of her story and reclaim her life. At the age of 50 she’s an anti- bullying activist, a public speaker, a writer and producer whose overwhelming message is take back your power.

It’s a message that resonates with women in particular – which is why US fashion house Reformation sought her out to front a new clothing line in collaboration with a “let’s vote” campaign in the run-up to the US elections in November.

Monica stars in a series of glossy images for the brand’s You’ve Got Power workwear range, which incorporates blazers, trench coats, tunics and dresses that all scream “I’m in charge”.

Lauren Caris Cohan, Reformation’s chief creative officer, says Monica is exactly what they were looking for. “We wanted to do something fresh that evoked an emotional response and helped propel people into motion,” she told Glamour magazine.

“Monica was the only person we could imagine collaborating with. I’d seen her TED Talk in 2015 and thought, ‘Woah, this woman is incredible, funny and smart and is a Ref babe.”