Monica Lewinsky became famous for all the wrong reasons and primarily because of her affair with President Bill Clinton.
In what has become known as the "Lewinsky scandal" the Clinton and Lewinsky affair became public in January 1998 with Lewinsky claiming that between November 1995 and March 1997, she was involved in several sexual encounters with then President Bill Clinton.
Clinton later on admitted that he indeed had an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky albeit he denied having had sexual intercourse with her.
Speaking at the Forbes Magazine's Under 30 Summit on Monday, the former White House intern shared her personal experience on being bullied online after news about her infamous relationship with the former president broke out describing herself as the patient zero of Cyberbullying.
During her speech, which Lewinsky said is her first major public speaking engagement, the now 41-year old said that even before the advent of social media, internet news and gossips were already capable of making a global impact.
She said that at the time that her scandalous affair became public, there was no Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but news, entertainment and gossip websites already existed with comment section and email that could be forwarded.
"Overnight, I went from being a completely private figure to a publicly humiliated one. I was Patient Zero," Lewinsky said. "The first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the Internet."
Lewinsky said that she was encouraged to speak against cyberbullying after the death of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University student who committed suicide in 2010 after his roommate shared a video of him online kissing another man.
In her speech, Lewinsky announced that she wants to help with the Tyler Clementi Foundation and that she intends to use her experience to help fight online harassment.
"Having survived myself, what I want to do now is help other victims of the shame game survive too. I want to put my suffering to good use and give purpose to my past."
Attendees said they find it difficult to connect Lewinsky's speech with the conference's programming but some appreciated Lewinsky speaking about cyberbullying.
"I thought it was very courageous of her to speak, and I thought it was great that she's using her experience to help stop cyber bullying - it's a great way to use that experience for good," said Madison Stanford, a managing partner of a North American Soccer League team.
