Former President Bill Clinton said Thursday that former White House intern Monica Lewinsky "paid quite a price" for the affair that roiled his presidency.
PBS's Judy Woodruff followed up on widely criticized comments Clinton made Monday and asked the former president how he thought the scandal impacted Lewinsky.
"You paid a price. Do you think Ms. Lewinsky paid a higher price, a harder price?" Woodruff asked.
"Oh, I don’t know. I think she paid quite a price. But the price that I used to worry about all the time for her — and I was glad to see when she went back to school and made another career ... – I was afraid that she would be frozen in the public mind for the rest of her life over what happened," Clinton said.
"And I didn’t want that for her," he said. "And I think she’s tried to build a bigger, different, broader life. And I hope she has."
The former president also showed his knowledge of Lewinsky's life by praising her television show and complimenting her "really compelling TED Talk."
Clinton came under fire this week for his answer to a question from NBC reporter Craig Melvin on Monday about whether he had apologized to Lewinsky.
"Yes," Clinton said to Mevin. "And nobody believes that I got out of that for free. I left the White House $16 million in debt. But you typically have ignored gaping facts in describing this and I bet you don't even know them."
Despite Clinton's claim he was in dire financial straits after leaving office in 2001, he privately boasted that same year about being flush with cash.