I thought her 15 minutes were up already. The full Monica: 'Personality' plus By Donna Freydkin, Special for USA TODAY NEW YORK — Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern, current handbag designer and newly minted reality-series host, leans back in her chair, takes a sip of her coffee, crosses her arms and grins. Monica Lewinsky hosts the new Fox reality show, Mr. Personality. AP/Fox To her credit, Lewinsky, 29, can easily laugh at herself. And with relish, she recalls one particularly funny incident that happened while she was shooting the new Fox dating show, Mr. Personality. "There was this one moment where one of the guys had done something stupid and he says, 'I had to go do one stupid thing, and it's on TV in front of the rest of world,' and I said, 'Join the club,'" she chuckles. "We just high-fived each other!" Thanks to her own ribald romantic history, Lewinsky can certainly relate to this sense of public mortification. And she displays her own love mojo on Mr. Personality, which premieres tonight (9 ET/PT). This time, Lewinsky shares girl talk with Hayley, 26, an Atlanta singleton wooed by 20 masked men who in lieu of their looks must rely on their charm and wit to win her affection. Lewinsky, meanwhile, emcees the show and serves as Hayley's sounding board. "She's so personable and warm and intelligent that I got to know her and forgot everything else in her past," says Hayley, whose last name is being kept under wraps by the network. "I felt that it would be shameful to go there with her." The rest of the world doesn't share Hayley's reticence in dredging up Lewinsky's past. As a fresh-faced 25-year-old White House intern, she made history thanks to her sexual relationship with President Clinton, who lied about their affair under oath and was impeached in 1998, only to be acquitted by the Senate the following year. For her, it's old news, and the eminently personable Lewinsky retreats into guarded silence when that whole presidential mess comes up. "It's five years ago. It's in the past. Everyone's heard pretty much what they need to hear about it," she sighs. Still, it's a topic that won't go away. Bring up flea-market shopping (her favorite), boyfriends (she's dating but isn't seriously involved with anyone) or pets (she has none), and anecdotes spill out of her. But mention that other thing, and Lewinsky pauses, staring at the ceiling and hunting for the right words. "I was never a bad person. I made some mistakes, but I just needed to mature. I'm doing that," she says almost hesitantly. "I'm going on with my life." To that end, like Madonna, Lewinsky is studying Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition based on the spiritual laws of the universe, which she says centers her and helps her be "a better person." She hopes to one day produce TV shows or movies, and is toying with graduate school, where she'd like to study either law or forensic psychology. She's still designing her line of pricey handbags, The Real Monica. And Lewinsky, so long out of the limelight, has no qualms about leaping back into the public eye with the five-episode Fox show. "It's not as if my life has been private over the past few years," she says. "When I walk down the street, I'm still recognized. I'm still put in the paper. To have lost my anonymity suddenly, without choosing to, was a really tragic thing for me. But that's part of the hand I've been dealt and part of moving on for me." She says she yearns for marriage and children, but if meeting Mr. Right is tricky for the average woman, imagine what it's like for Lewinsky. Even when she wanders out of her West Village apartment scrubbed free of makeup, her hair up in a ponytail, people point and stare. As for her dates, Lewinsky says that guys don't quite know how to process her past. "Some men are uncomfortable, just tabling the subject, and some are very quiet about it," she says. "You never know which way to go. Is it easier to just bring it up and get it out of the way, or is that not the right thing to do with someone else, since that's going to freak them out?" But Lewinsky would rather not dwell on the bad stuff. She's happy, she says, thanks to a close-knit circle of friends with whom she lunches, shops and goes to the movies. And to allay any media-induced anxiety, she's decided to refrain from reading any press about Mr. Personality. As for the inevitable scrutiny, the endless stares, she just giggles: "If you can't laugh at yourself, God help you!"
gotta give them hollywood makeup artists credit... she *almost* looks decent....almost.. btw, have you noticed that 15 minutes of fame is no longer applicable? It becomes more like, 15 minutes of fame.......15 years of infamy... I just wish all these reality shows would go the f*ck away...I dont get much time to watch the boob-tube, but when I do, by the time I find something decent to watch, my time is up..
I call it the Kato Katlin Principle...the continued fame for being...well...famous. I think it wears off, over time...but it's depressing.
Do Not Watch this drivel, if you watch it I will come to your home and beat you about the head and neck area until your are dead...... That being said I'll probably have to start with the women at my house...... How pathetic a show like this is..... Please America, I beg you just say no to anymore of this garbage......
One question for you reality tv watchers, why? You are ruining the whole concept of entertainment. If you quit watching reality TV, Fox will quit making stupid themed shows(maybe maybe no). I can't stand the whole networks using the same themes every season. One year it is game shows, the next cartoons, then reality shows. What's next? Dog shows?
Wanna know why? Farscape. Canceled. Firefly. Canceled. Buffy. Ending. Angel. On the bubble. Every show I get emotionally invested in gets axed. At least with reality shows, I'll get full closure on any series I watch. There will be a beginning, a middle, and an end. Besides, have you SEEN any of the other shows on primetime? Let's examine a few time slots and see how reality fares: Monday night @ 9:00 PM EST: NBC - Third Watch CBS - Everybody Loves Raymond (x2) ABC - The Practice FOX - Mr. Personality - REALITY! UPN - Girlfriends/Half and Half WB - Everwood Which show would you honestly watch? Ray Romano is running out of ideas. Third Watch is hokey. The Practice just sucks now. Everwood or any of the crap on UPN that hour? Ha, ha. Nice try. Reality wins. Want a rematch? Reality wins again! Tuesday night @ 8:00 PM EST: NBC - Just Shoot Me! CBS - JAG ABC - 8 Simple Rules... FOX - American Idol - REALITY! UPN - Buffy WB - Gilmore Girls Just Shoot Me! is stale and old. Never got into JAG. 8 Simple Rules? Worst. Show. Ever. Gilmore Girls? Um, no. Therefore, American Idol wins, hands down. (Buffy gets taped.) Thursday night @ 8:00 PM EST: NBC - Friends (x2!!) CBS - Survivor - REALITY! ABC - Whose Line Is It Anyway (x2!) FOX - Michael Jackson's Home Video (just this week) UPN - WWE Smackdown! WB - Sabrina the Teenage Witch Friends is the show that just... won't... die... Does anything think it's still fresh and hip? Does anyone watch it anymore? I don't, and I used to love it. Would I watch Whose Line? Maybe, but there's only so much Wayne Brady I can tolerate. Michael Jackson's videos? Smackdown? Sabrina? Riiiiiight. Score another win for reality. Would I rather watch a well-crafted show than reality fodder? Absolutely. Too bad the good stuff is on cable...
VesceySux, good point, except that there is one available option that beats all of those crappy shows: Turn off the television. And if you cant turn off the TV, rent a movie. (I am soooooo pissed about Farscape)
Isn't the BBS Hangout a giant "Mr Personality" contest in which men fight for the friendship of other men through the use of witty posts and timely quoting...?
Actually, the better point would be to flip to cable channels, like HBO. That's where all the action is, anyway. With the advent of "On Demand," I've been able to catch up on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sopranos, Arli$$, and Bill Maher.... at the touch of a button. Once Buffy ends, 24 will be the only network show worth watching next year (assuming WB trashes Angel). ... That is, unless I REALLY feel like watching one of the 378 unfunny CBS sitcoms featuring a fat, lazy husband and hot wife (situated in Queens, of course)... BTW, MadMax, last I heard, Ed is dead. Kaput. Axed. Over. Done. Finished.
