Patti Davis is an American actress and author. She is the daughter of U.S.
President Ronald Reagan and Reagan's second wife, First Lady Nancy Reagan.
While her father is heralded as a conservative icon, Davis is known to the
American media as an outspoken liberal, along with her brother Ron Reagan.
Early life Patricia Ann Reagan was born via
caesarean section to Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan on October 21, 1952 in Los
Angeles, California. She was born only seven months after her parents married
in March 1952. She is the older sister of Ron Reagan, the half-sister of the
late Maureen Reagan, and has an adopted half-brother, Michael Reagan. She
graduated from the Orme School of Arizona in 1970 and attended
Northwestern University from 1970-71. She also attended the University of
Southern California, where she studied drama. While studying at USC, she
changed her surname from Reagan to Davis, her mother's maiden name.
Acting, modeling and writing careers In 1986, she published her first novel,
"Home Front," which is based on Patti's life and the Reagan family. The story
follows Beth Canfield, whose father goes from a TV announcer to Governor of
California and then President. The book was very controversial and her
half-sister Maureen, and adopted half-brother Michael stopped speaking to
her after it was published. In 1992, she published an autobiography
called, "The Way I See It." It talked about her mother's pill addiction,
Patti's childhood abuse by her mother, and her father ignoring it. Although the
book does include happy childhood moments with her parents, Patti said she
wrote it because she "thought it was important for... [her parents] to hear
the truth" about her childhood. Davis posed nude in Playboy in the July
1994 issue. She also starred in a Playboy Celebrity Centerfold video,
which showed her in outdoor lesbian settings, along with a solo masturbation
passage. Years later, at the age of fifty-eight in 2011, she posed nude
again, this time in a less explicit manner, for More.
In 2013, she published a fictional work called Till Human Voices Wake Us, a love
story between a woman and her sister-in-law. She had a hard time
getting the book published, and decided to self-publish the book.
Personal life Patti says that her mom started slapping
her on the face at age 9. At age 14, Patti began her addiction to diet pills.
In 1970, she studied at Northwestern, where she reported she was very unhappy
and became anorexic. After she transferred to the University of
Southern California, she admits to doing LSD, quaaludes and later cocaine. It is
reported that she sold marijuana to pay for her therapy. At the age of 24, Patti
underwent a tubal ligation because, "I was terrified that if I became a mother
I would become like my mother and abuse a child in the ways she abused me." Ten
years later, she had it reversed. After school, she dated Kris
Kristofferson and Timothy Hutton. In 1974, she began a four-year-long
relationship with Eagles guitarist Bernie Leadon. While they were dating
and living together, they cowrote the song "I Wish You Peace" which appeared
on the Eagles album, One of These Nights.
In 1984, she married Paul Grilley, a yoga instructor. They divorced in 1990.
She was active in the Reagan family's actions against John Hinckley and the
controversial CBS miniseries The Reagans. In November 2011, she launched
"Beyond Alzheimer's," a support group that meets every Thursday evening at
UCLA. Bibliography
Home Front. Crown, 1986. ISBN 0-517-55952-8.
Deadfall. Crown, 1989. ISBN 0-517-57405-5.
A House of Secrets. Carol, 1991. ISBN 1-55972-082-4.
The Way I See It: An Autobiography. Putnam, 1992. ISBN 0-399-13748-3.
Bondage. Simon & Schuster, 1994. ISBN 0-671-86953-1.
Angels Don't Die: My Father's Gift of Faith. Harper Collins, 1995. ISBN
0-06-017324-6. The Long Goodbye. Knopf, 2004. ISBN
0-679-45092-0. Two Cats and the Woman They Own.
Chronicle Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8118-5166-4.
The Wit and Wisdom of Gracie. References
External links Official Site
Patti Davis at the Internet Movie Database
Appearances on C-SPAN