There’s Time for Image Repair

We think we know Monica S. Lewinsky, that woman with the “That Girl!” hairdo who fell in love and nearly destroyed a president. But we still mostly know of her through others.

Now, it is up to Lewinsky to tell us who she is, and who she wants to be.

Yes, her youthful indiscretions and romantic obsession have been revealed in excruciating detail to an international audience.

But she can put it all behind her. At 25, Lewinsky has the power to give herself an image make-over, public relations experts say.

And what better place to reinvent herself than Los Angeles?

“I’m not sure exactly where I’m a resident now,” she said in a recent deposition.

She is known to frequent an apartment in Brentwood, near her physician father’s home. She works out at a Westside gym, favoring the Stairmaster.

Reports of a film-industry boyfriend may be premature, although a source described their relationship as “a genuine friendship.” The good news is, he’s single.

L.A. Good Place to Remake Image

People familiar with the art of personal reinvention say Lewinsky is making the right move by settling in tolerant, forgiving, sophisticated, celebrity-jaded Los Angeles. She already has a network of friends here. Photographers don’t seem to scrum over her as aggressively.

Still, she’s out there, nearly everywhere you look.

Last week, Lewinsky enjoyed the dubious distinction of being portrayed as the Mona Lisa on the cover of the New Yorker, and as a fashion “don’t” on the pages of Glamour, where she was shown power-walking, gym shorts climbing high in what the magazine calls a “Monica Le-wedgie.”

“She’s the celebrity of the moment,” said Los Angeles public relations consultant Michael S. Sitrick, who specializes in crisis PR. “But as time goes by, the celebrity fades.”

As she decides whether to embrace fame or quietly fade from the limelight, she knows she has to make some rain.

She is said to owe more than $1 million in fees to lawyers and consultants. She has no job. And the resume of this 1995 graduate of Oregon’s Lewis & Clark University--where she majored in psychology--isn’t exactly voluminous.

There is a memoir in the works, “Monica’s Story,” written by Andrew Morton--the biographer to whom Princess Diana told her secrets of a miserable life in a palace filled with malice.

Lewinsky is said to have received a $600,000 advance and is promised even more if the tome sells well. Publisher St. Martin’s Press expects the book to hit stores by month’s end.

The cover, by the same photographer who shot the cover of Morton’s Diana biography, makes Lewinsky appear thinner and downright upright.

British television has bought the rights to broadcast her story, also for $600,000.

And she has agreed to chat on television with Barbara Walters. No one can say for sure when the actual interview will take place. She is not being paid.

For now, independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr continues to insist that she give no media interviews without his approval, which would violate her immunity agreement. Language was written into that deal that forbids her from talking with the media “until the matter is resolved.”

Her lawyers, meanwhile, are seeking to free her from the gag clause, which arguably serves little purpose at this point other than to stifle criticism she might express toward Starr or his prosecution team.

Sitrick says that with a book and a television interview in the works, Lewinsky is not acting like somebody who’s looking to fade into the woodwork.

“Those are not steps one takes if one wants anonymity,” he said.

A Lewinsky confidant, who spoke anonymously, said the world’s most famous intern doesn’t want to be portrayed as a bimbo and is anxious to talk. She is keeping her cool, and, for now, her own counsel about her plans.

“She’s smart, she’s articulate, she’s quick witted, she’s funny,” said the source. “She’s not an idiot who just became bright. She always was. . . . She is genuinely intelligent.”

Video Showed Poised Young Woman

Lewinsky’s image repair began with her recent public debut on video before the Senate, where she appeared to be a poised young woman deftly fending off questions from House Republicans about her love life.

The confidant said Lewinsky’s polish was no fluke, nor was it the result of coaching or a charm school crash course.

“She’s not somebody who [had to] be cleaned up,” the source said. “She feels good and gratified people listened to her.”

No doubt, some people already have made up their minds.

Consider the polls: Half of the 631 adults interviewed in a Feb. 7 CBS News poll held an unfavorable opinion of Lewinsky, while only 12% thought of her favorably. A quarter said they were undecided.

Her numbers were up only slightly since a year ago, when the scandal first broke.

Brian “Kato” Kaelin, made famous by the O.J. Simpson saga, said strangers with strong opinions didn’t think twice about approaching him, even in public restrooms.

“People whisper. People judge you. You hear the whispers, and the acid starts churning in your stomach,” he said, offering this advice for Lewinsky in her 16th minute of fame:

“Get ready for the public to humiliate you. Some people will love you, some will hate you.”

Kaelin added, “I hope she makes a ton of cash.”