Bill Clinton has stated that he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky to “manage his anxieties.” The former President, 73, recounts his extramarital affair with a White House intern, claiming that it helped him deal with personal concerns in a new interview.

Bill claims that the strain of the work made him feel like a 30-round boxer at the time he met Lewinsky, and that he saw Lewinsky as “something that will take your mind off it for a while’.

In a new shocking documentary about his wife, “Hillary,” which will premiere on Hulu, he said that the couple went through “painful” marriage counseling following his affair. In the 1990s, his affair with Monica Lewinsky nearly brought down his administration, and the public response left her feeling like “the most humiliated woman in the world.”

He has now recalled the time he informed his wife “exactly what happened” and stated he “felt terrible about it.” Clinton said: “I went and sat on the bed and talked to her. I told her exactly what happened, when it happened. I said I feel terrible about it.

“She said you have to tell your daughter. She said that’s worse than me. So I did that, which was awful.” When asked why he cheated, Clinton said he needed a diversion from the responsibilities of being in the White House. “You feel like you’re staggering around, you’ve been in a 15 round prize fight that was extended to 30 rounds and here’s something that will take your mind off it for a while, that’s what happens,” he explained. Everybody’s life is filled with stresses and disappointments, terrors and anxieties of all kinds.

“Things I did to manage my anxieties for years. I’m a different, totally different person than I was, a lot of that stuff 20 years ago. “ Maybe it’s just getting older but I hope it was also going through a lot of this. “But whatever, what I did was bad but it wasn’t like – how can I think about the most stupid thing I could and do it. “ It’s not a defense, it’s an explanation. I feel awful.”

Mrs Clinton, a former presidential contender and secretary of state, said in the documentary that her husband’s adultery had left her “devastated.” ‘I could not believe it. I was so personally just hurt and I can’t believe this, I can’t believe you lied,’ she said.

From Friday, the four-part series ‘Hillary’ will be accessible on Hulu. In one segment of the documentary detailing the affair, Mr. Clinton apologizes to Ms. Lewinsky, who has begun to publicly speak out about their connection in recent years, claiming that her perspective has changed as a result of the #MeToo movement.

Clinton also said that when he strayed, he and his wife went through therapy, which he described as the “hardest thing” he’s ever had to do. “Counseling was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do but it was necessary,” he continued. “She (Hillary) deserved it, Chelsea deserved it and I needed it.  I feel terrible about the fact that Monica Lewinsky’s life was defined by it, unfairly I think. Over the years I’ve watched her trying to get a normal life back again but you’ve got to decide how to define normal.”

The four-part documentary has unprecedented access to the Clintons’ inner circle and follows Hillary’s public life from her undergraduate days through her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

Mr Clinton was impeached after lying about the connection during a deposition. The Senate later found him not guilty.

Bill last addressed the subject in 2018, and it backfired horribly when he stated that he owed Lewinsky no private apology.