Gennifer Flowers
Encyclopedia
Gennifer Flowers is a model and actress who allegedly had a sexual relationship
with former U.S. President
Bill Clinton
. Prior to Bill Clinton's presidency, she also posed nude for Penthouse
magazine and was an actress in two films and one TV show. After becoming a celebrity, she acted as herself in two films and guest starred as herself in various TV shows.
After Bill Clinton denied having a relationship with Flowers on 60 Minutes
, she held a press conference in which she played tape recordings she had secretly recorded of phone calls with Clinton. Clinton subsequently apologized publicly to Mario Cuomo
for remarks he made about the then-Governor of New York
on the tapes. However, news reports at the time speculated that the taped phone conversations between Flowers and Clinton could have been doctored. Clinton aides James Carville
and George Stephanopoulos
also backed this claim as well. George Stephanopoulos
later claimed in a 2000 interview with journalist Tim Russert
that "Oh, it was absolutely his voice, but they were selectively edited in a way to - to create some - some impression."
In December 1996, Gennifer Flowers talked about her sexual relationship with Bill Clinton on The Richard Bey Show. The show was canceled the following day. Richard Bey later attributed a direct connection between the two consecutive events (see TV appearances).
In his presidential deposition in January 1998, while denying Kathleen Willey
's sexual accusations against him, Bill Clinton admitted that he had a sexual encounter with Flowers. In 1998, Flowers admitted that she had made a total net profit
of $500,000 by publicizing her alleged affair with Clinton to Penthouse
, Star Magazine and other news sources. In his 2004 autobiography My Life
, Clinton acknowledged testifying under oath that he had an encounter with Flowers. He stated it was only on one occasion in 1977. However, it has not been proven exactly what type of sexual advances
Clinton made during this 1977 encounter.
Flowers sued George Stephanopoulos
, James Carville
and others in 1999 for defamation (later amending the suit in 2000 to include Hillary Rodham Clinton
as a defendant), claiming that they orchestrated a campaign to discredit her. Judicial Watch
represented her in her defamation lawsuit against Hillary's former aides, Stephanopoulos and Carville. In her case, Flowers argued that the defendants ignored obvious warning signs that the television news reports did not conclusively determine that someone had interfered with the tapes. In 2003, a federal judge further approved appeal, The appeal was revived in 2002, but rejected by the Ninth Circuit in 2004.
She posed nude for Penthouse
magazine during this period and was featured in the December 1992 issue along with her story "Gennifer Flowers Tells All, Shows All".
After already being an actress in an Australian film in 1987, she played in another independent Australian film in 1992 and in the same year guest starred in the adult themed television comedy Dream On
. She then played herself in Play It to the Bone
and various TV shows.
Until Hurricane Katrina
, she ran a cabaret
called the Kelsto Club in a former bordello in New Orleans's French Quarter
. As of 2007, she lives in Las Vegas, Nevada
, where she occasionally writes a column.
In 2008, she put the answering machine
tapes of her conversations with Bill Clinton up for auction.
Intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...
with former U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. Prior to Bill Clinton's presidency, she also posed nude for Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
magazine and was an actress in two films and one TV show. After becoming a celebrity, she acted as herself in two films and guest starred as herself in various TV shows.
The Bill Clinton controversy
Gennifer Flowers came forward during Bill Clinton's 1992 Presidential election campaign, alleging that she had had a 12-year relationship with him. Flowers at first denied that she had an affair with Clinton, but later changed her story.After Bill Clinton denied having a relationship with Flowers on 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
, she held a press conference in which she played tape recordings she had secretly recorded of phone calls with Clinton. Clinton subsequently apologized publicly to Mario Cuomo
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...
for remarks he made about the then-Governor of New York
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
on the tapes. However, news reports at the time speculated that the taped phone conversations between Flowers and Clinton could have been doctored. Clinton aides James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
and George Stephanopoulos
George Stephanopoulos
George Robert Stephanopoulos is an American television journalist and a former political advisor.Stephanopoulos is most well known as the chief political correspondent for ABC News – the news division of the broadcast television network ABC – and a co-anchor of ABC News's morning news...
also backed this claim as well. George Stephanopoulos
George Stephanopoulos
George Robert Stephanopoulos is an American television journalist and a former political advisor.Stephanopoulos is most well known as the chief political correspondent for ABC News – the news division of the broadcast television network ABC – and a co-anchor of ABC News's morning news...
later claimed in a 2000 interview with journalist Tim Russert
Tim Russert
Timothy John "Tim" Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview...
that "Oh, it was absolutely his voice, but they were selectively edited in a way to - to create some - some impression."
In December 1996, Gennifer Flowers talked about her sexual relationship with Bill Clinton on The Richard Bey Show. The show was canceled the following day. Richard Bey later attributed a direct connection between the two consecutive events (see TV appearances).
In his presidential deposition in January 1998, while denying Kathleen Willey
Kathleen Willey
Kathleen Willey was a White House volunteer aide who, on March 15, 1998, alleged on the TV news program 60 Minutes that Bill Clinton had sexually assaulted her on November 29, 1993, during his first term as President...
's sexual accusations against him, Bill Clinton admitted that he had a sexual encounter with Flowers. In 1998, Flowers admitted that she had made a total net profit
Net profit
Net profit or net revenue is a measure of the profitability of a venture after accounting for all costs. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 91 percent responded that they found the "net profit" metric very useful...
of $500,000 by publicizing her alleged affair with Clinton to Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
, Star Magazine and other news sources. In his 2004 autobiography My Life
My Life (Bill Clinton autobiography)
My Life is a 2004 autobiography written by former President of the United States Bill Clinton, who left office on January 20, 2001. It was released on June 22, 2004. The book was published by the Knopf Publishing Group; the book sold in excess of 2,250,000 copies...
, Clinton acknowledged testifying under oath that he had an encounter with Flowers. He stated it was only on one occasion in 1977. However, it has not been proven exactly what type of sexual advances
Flirting
Flirting is a playful, romantic, or sexual overture by one person to another subtly indicating an interest in a deeper relationship with the other person, and can involve verbal communication as well as body language...
Clinton made during this 1977 encounter.
Flowers sued George Stephanopoulos
George Stephanopoulos
George Robert Stephanopoulos is an American television journalist and a former political advisor.Stephanopoulos is most well known as the chief political correspondent for ABC News – the news division of the broadcast television network ABC – and a co-anchor of ABC News's morning news...
, James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
and others in 1999 for defamation (later amending the suit in 2000 to include Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
as a defendant), claiming that they orchestrated a campaign to discredit her. Judicial Watch
Judicial Watch
Judicial Watch is an organization that describes itself as "a conservative, non-partisan American educational foundation that promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law." According to its mission statement, Judicial Watch "advocates high standards of...
represented her in her defamation lawsuit against Hillary's former aides, Stephanopoulos and Carville. In her case, Flowers argued that the defendants ignored obvious warning signs that the television news reports did not conclusively determine that someone had interfered with the tapes. In 2003, a federal judge further approved appeal, The appeal was revived in 2002, but rejected by the Ninth Circuit in 2004.
Post controversy years
Gennifer Flowers published her memoir Gennifer Flowers: Passion and Betrayal in 1995. In it, she claimed she had experienced a sexual naïveté at the time of her alleged relationship with Clinton ("The first time he [ejaculated during oral sex], I was taken aback. I was saving that for my husband, if ever. But Bill was gentle and held me after.").She posed nude for Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
magazine during this period and was featured in the December 1992 issue along with her story "Gennifer Flowers Tells All, Shows All".
After already being an actress in an Australian film in 1987, she played in another independent Australian film in 1992 and in the same year guest starred in the adult themed television comedy Dream On
Dream On (TV series)
Dream On is an American adult-themed situation comedy about single New Yorker, Martin Tupper. The show used a gimmick where old black and white clips were used to punctuate the main character's feelings or thoughts...
. She then played herself in Play It to the Bone
Play It to the Bone
Play It to the Bone is a 1999 sports/comedy-drama film, starring Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson, written and directed by Ron Shelton....
and various TV shows.
Until Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, she ran a cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
called the Kelsto Club in a former bordello in New Orleans's French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
. As of 2007, she lives in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, where she occasionally writes a column.
In 2008, she put the answering machine
Answering machine
The answering machine or message machine, also known as the telephone answering machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries) and previously known as an ansaphone, ansafone, or telephone answering device is a device for answering telephones and recording callers' messages.Unlike voicemail,...
tapes of her conversations with Bill Clinton up for auction.
Filmography
- Frenchman's Farm (1987), Mrs. Grenville
- Redheads (aka Desperate Prey) (1992), Carolyn
- The War RoomThe War RoomThe War Room is a 1993 American documentary film about Bill Clinton's campaign for President of the United States during the 1992 presidential election.-Background:...
(1993), herself - Play It to the BonePlay It to the BonePlay It to the Bone is a 1999 sports/comedy-drama film, starring Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson, written and directed by Ron Shelton....
(1999), herself - Definitely, MaybeDefinitely, MaybeDefinitely, Maybe is a 2008 romantic comedy film directed by Adam Brooks, and starring Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, Abigail Breslin and Kevin Kline.-Plot:...
(2008), herself
TV appearances
- The Howard Stern Show, herself - in "Episode dated 1 February 1992" (1992)
- Dream On (TV series)Dream On (TV series)Dream On is an American adult-themed situation comedy about single New Yorker, Martin Tupper. The show used a gimmick where old black and white clips were used to punctuate the main character's feelings or thoughts...
- in the episode "And Bimbo Was His Name-O" (1992) - The Richard Bey Show, herself - in the episode "Clinton Scandals" (1996). The show was cancelled the following day and Richard Bey later attributed a direct connection between the two consecutive events
- WrestleMania XIVWrestleMania XIVWrestleMania XIV was the fourteenth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation , which took place on March 29, 1998 at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts....
(1998), herself - The Frank Skinner ShowThe Frank Skinner ShowThe Frank Skinner Show was a television chat show hosted by comedian Frank Skinner which lasted nine series on British television between 1995 and 2005.It was screened on BBC One from its first episode on 10 September 1995 until 3 June 1999....
, herself - in episode #2.7 (1998) - Where Are They Now? (VH1 TV series)Where Are They Now? (VH1 TV series)Where Are They Now? was a television series on VH1 that featured past celebrities and updated on their current professional and personal status...
, herself - in the episode "Notorious & Newsworthy" (2000) - Weakest Link (US), herself - in the episode "Newsmakers Edition" (2001)