Monica Lewinsky’s Reaction To Ken Starr’s Death Has Everyone Saying The Same Thing

In 2017, Monica Lewinsky ran into Ken Starr at a restaurant. “I felt determined, then and there, to remind him that, 20 years before, he and his team of prosecutors hadn’t hounded and terrorized just me but also my family,” she wrote in her Vanity Fair essay. As Starr inquired about her wellbeing, Lewinsky recalled, “He kept touching my arm and elbow, which made me uncomfortable.” By then, she’d been clinically diagnosed with PTSD and had spent years feeling alone and forsaken. But when Starr appeared on CBS News months after their encounter, he refused to offer Lewinsky an apology.

Upon learning of Starr’s death, Lewinsky tweeted, “As I’m sure many can understand, my thoughts about Ken Starr bring up complicated feelings … but of more importance, is that I imagine it’s a painful loss for those who love him.” Knowing that Lewinsky had endured years of public shame and trauma, her followers confessed that her words weren’t what they expected. “I don’t know how you do it, but you continue to be gracious to those who never offered you the least bit of compassion or concern,” read one response to her tweet. Others admitted that they would find it impossible to react with such magnanimity. “Your restraint and empathy is commendable. I would be … less able to manifest grace,” another person wrote. “You’re a far better person than he was,” a third opined, “and better than most of us too.”