[caption id=”attachment_104482″ align=”aligncenter” width=”851″] Image via Forbes
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Caitlyn Jenner was inspired to go public with her gender transition by none other than former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
In the Vanity Fair profile of the former Olympic athlete that will appear in the magazine’s July issue, journalist Buzz Bissinger reveals that Jenner received inspiration from Lewinsky’s recent TED talk on the cyberbullying that occurred following revelations of her affair with then-President Bill Clinton in 1998.
From The Hill:
The journalist describes sitting at the kitchen counter with the reality television star about two weeks after Jenner, 65, underwent surgery related to her transition. “[Jenner] had listened to Monica Lewinsky’s powerful TED talk on what it is like to be the ceaseless target of cyber-ridicule,” Bissinger writes. “The talk had struck a chord with Caitlyn because of the similarities with how she had been dealt with on the Internet.”
Coincidentally, Lewinsky herself reentered the public sphere following years of hiding from media attention via an article in Vanity Fair last year. She has since become a contributor to the magazine in addition to a champion of victims of cyberbullying.
Lewinsky expressed her support of Jenner in her public transformation on Twitter Monday when the July Vanity Fair cover dropped.
insisting on a different ending to her story is EXACTLY what @Caitlyn_Jenner is doing. she is helping so many. BRAVA! @VanityFair
— Monica Lewinsky (@MonicaLewinsky) June 1, 2015
And, in a later tweet, Lewinsky described herself as “moved” by Jenner’s admission that she herself was a source of Caitlyn’s inspiration.
… and i am moved by @Caitlyn_Jenner being moved! https://t.co/PeeuV1LmzW
— Monica Lewinsky (@MonicaLewinsky) June 1, 2015
