David Letterman dished with Barbara Walters when she stopped by his show on Wednesday night as part of her pre-retirement farewell tour. The two rehashed many topics they had both covered throughout the years. It was during this part of their conversation that Dave expressed what certainly appeared to be honest regret at mocking her on his late night show many years back when she was in the media spotlight for her involvement with then President Bill Clinton.
“I started to feel bad, because myself, and other people with shows like this, made relentless jokes about the poor woman. And she was a kid!” Letterman said.
“With some perspective, you realize this is a sad human situation,” Letterman added.
Barbara Walters pointed out that while both Bill and Hillary Clinton have been able to move on with their lives, “Monica is still stuck in the humor of it,” she said.
She added that Monica Lewinsky has even wondered how to one day discuss the incident with her children. This hit home with David Letterman, as he is the father of a young boy himself.
Monica Lewinsky surfaced once again in recent days with an essay in Vanity Fair. In it she explains how she has been unable to move past that period in her life and that finding gainful employment has been difficult because of her unfavorable notoriety.
#ThrowbackThursday: Monica Lewinsky in 1998, styled by L'Wren Scott http://t.co/xlTwLbOGeW pic.twitter.com/pgCQHcfUuG
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) May 8, 2014
It’s entirely possible that David Letterman feels some of Monica Lewinsky’s pain. In 2009 he admitted to his viewers that he had, in fact, been involved in a sexual relationship with a female staffer from his own show. Letterman then tried to diffuse what was quickly becoming a rather heavy situation by asking Barbara Walters if she might have ever considered putting Monica Lewinsky on The View.
Walters replied but appeared to be holding something back. She seemed to think Letterman was fishing for information about her replacement.
“Umm, I won’t tell you what we have done, but it would have been possible,” she answered cryptically.
That likely means no one outside of The View family knows yet exactly who Barbara Walters’ replacement on the show will be. It likely, however, won’t be Monica Lewinsky.
“I think it would be great if she were on The View. I wouldn’t expect it tomorrow,” Walters said.
Preview Monica Lewinsky's Vanity Fair feature on life after her affair with President Clinton http://t.co/x38MYkq4Zs pic.twitter.com/tQTGiokA9Y
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) May 6, 2014
David Letterman was significantly changed in the aftermath of his affair back in 2009. Maybe that made him more compassionate toward Lewinsky and maybe even some of the other people he has mocked throughout the years on his show.
Do you think Dave will one day invite Monica Lewinsky on to his show before he relinquishes the helm to Stephen Colbert?
Image via YouTube