Monica hopes history will forget her scandal

LOS ANGELES, Jan 4: The young woman at the heart of the sex scandal that almost drove President Bill Clinton from office said Monday she hopes she will become "a smaller and smaller footnote" in US political history, reports AFP.

Monica Lewinsky told Larry King on CNN she thought of herself "as a young woman who made some mistakes, some private mistakes, but was part of something larger than herself."

"I'm not blameless," the former White House intern said.

"I completely recognise that I bear some responsibility in what happened. But I certainly didn't chose to become a public figure," she added.

Lewinsky, now 26, looks svelte after losing 14 kilos (31 pounds) on a Jenny Craig commercial diet and has become a spokeswoman for the firm.

She also has a new Internet company -- www.therealmonicainc.com -- where she sells handbags and accessories.

She appeared on "Larry King Live" on Monday to promote the diet -- but also to begin the process of returning to a normal life, after a year-and-a-half of being the centre of media attention and the butt of jokes on late-night television.

"It can be somewhat embarrassing sometimes. But I'm trying to be on track of being a 26-year-old... trying to do the things that someone my age would do."

She is also working out some "issues" in psychotherapy and is casually dating. She still draws looks when she goes out in public, she said.

"Sometimes I pretend that I don't know that anybody notices me. Most of the time that works," she said.

She said she recognises that she has become a part of American history as Clinton's sometime lover.

"I try to not to pay attention to it because it's too awesome. But... as time goes on I hope it will be come a shorter and shorter footnote," Lewinsky said.

She has been living in Los Angeles for most of the time since Clinton's 1998 impeachment. She plans to move to New York, where Hillary Clinton is running for a US Senate seat.

Lewinsky said she had "a lot of personal remorse for what she (the First Lady) has gone through and I'm sure... for what Chelsea has gone through."

But wouldn't say if she would vote for her in the Senate race, and dodged all other political questions.

Lewinsky said she didn't want to return to the public eye.