In an interview timed to the publication of her memoir “Hard Choices,” Mrs. Clinton said she did not take time to read an essay by Ms. Lewinsky that Vanity Fair published last month about the Clinton affair and her life since then. “I think everybody needs to look to the future,” Mrs. Clinton said.

And asked about published reports that she called Ms. Lewinsky a “narcissistic loony toon” after the affair became public, Mrs. Clinton said, “I’m not going to comment on what did and didn’t happen.”

The brief comments are the first time Mrs. Clinton has publicly addressed questions about Ms. Lewinsky since the scandal was revived in recent months, partly by conservatives and partly by Ms. Lewinsky’s Vanity Fair article.