Rita Jenrette is an American celebrity, actress, television journalist, and real estate executive. She is most famous for the interview she gave about her marriage to U.S. Representative John Jenrette following his conviction in the Abscam scandal and her accompanying semi-nude pictorial in Playboy magazine.
Early career
Jenrette earned her Bachelor's degree, cum laude, from the University of Texas in 1971. In 1973, she became the director of research for the Republican Party of Texas. In 1974, Jenrette was a visiting lecturer at the Taft Political Institute at Trinity University. In 1975, she was Opposition Research Director of the Republican National Committee, under the chairmanship of Mary Louise Smith. In 1977, Jenrette worked as a research associate at the Office of Technology Assessment under the co-chairmanship of Senators Hubert H. Humphrey and Edward M. Kennedy. She co-authored a report with Ray Hoehle on the Food for Peace program, which was presented to the Presidential Commission on World Food Hunger. In 1978, Jenrette was picked by the Washington Post Sunday magazine as one of four dynamic young women of Washington, D.C. On September 10, 1976, she married freshman Democratic whip John Jenrette of South Carolina, 18 months after meeting him on Capitol Hill. She was also a Clairol model.
Scandal
Her husband John was convicted for taking a bribe during the Abscam investigation in October 1980. She appeared on the Phil Donahue Show and he called in live to join the conversation. At his trial, she testified in her husband's defense. Subsequently, she alerted authorities to $25,000 she found in her husband's closet, saying it was part of the Abscam money. She gave an interview to Playboy that appeared in the April 1981 issue, accompanied by a nude pictorial. The article's revelation that she and her husband had sex on the steps of the U.S. Capitol during a break in an all-night House session caused a hoopla. She claimed that the couple were still "happily married" at the time the Playboy pictorial was photographed, although they had separated by the time it was published. The comedy group Capitol Steps takes its name from this escapade. Jenrette again appeared in Playboy in the May 1984 issue on the cover and in a pictorial.
Acting and writing career
She separated from her husband in January 1981 and they were divorced shortly thereafter. She has written two published books, one called My Capitol Secrets in 1981 that detailed her experiences as a Congressional spouse, and Conglomerate, published in 1986. In 1982, Jenrette received the Drama Logue Critics Award for her performance in The Philadelphia Story. She also appeared in several movies and television series in the mid-1980s. In 1989, Jenrette became an on-air journalist on Fox television’s A Current Affair on which she interviewed celebrities.
On May 27, 2009, Jenrette married Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi of Piombino. To commemorate the marriage, the prince commissioned the recreation of a fragrance originally devised for one of his ancestors, who included two popes. They lived in his 16th-century family home in Rome, called the Casino dell'Aurora, or sometimes Casino Ludovisi. They have renovated it. She still resides on the premises and has opened it to the public, giving tours and hosting charitable events there. She has promoted new research on the history of the property as well as the creation of a related scholarly resource, the Archivio Digitale Boncompagni Ludovisi.
Filmography
Jenrette appeared in the following films and television shows:
