Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Monica Lewinsky Heartbroken After Bullied Teen Commits Suicide

Monica Lewinsky took to Twitter to express her condolences after bullied 13-year-old Daniel Fitzpatrick hung himself in Staten Island last week.

“Heartbroken to see yet another story like this. RIP Daniel; condolences to his family. We need to listen + care more.” she posted on Monday.

Fitzpatrick left a devastating note before hanging himself with a belt, writing that he was bullied by a group of students at Holy Angels Catholic Academy, while teachers turned a blind eye.

“I wanted to get out I begged and pleaded,” he wrote.

Daniel Fitzpatrick Image by GoFundMe

Lewinsky also tweeted out a GoFundMe page to help financially assist the teen’s family with a memorial service. The page has since exceeded it’s fundraising goal by a landslide, raising $124,658 of an original $10,000 ask. The Fitzpatrick family later penned an appreciative note to supporters, adding that they will be donating a portion of the money to an anti-bullying organization that promote suicide awareness.

Lewinksy is an ardent fighter against bullying, speaking out against online shaming at a Ted Talk last March.

“Millions of people, often anonymously, can stab you with their words, and that’s a lot of pain, and there are no perimeters around how many people can publicly observe you and put you in a public stockade.” she said. “There is a very personal price to public humiliation, and the growth of the Internet has jacked up that price.”

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.