Rita Jenrette

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Rita Jenrette (born November 25, 1949) first came to the public eye as the wife of John Jenrette, congressman from South Carolina from 1975 to 1980. John Jenrette was implicated in taking a bribe during the Abscam investigation and his wife testified at the hearings, describing how she found $25,000 in one of his shoes.

Rita Jenrette on the cover of Playboy in May 1984

She appeared on the Phil Donahue show while he was in jail, and he called in live to join. She gave an interview to Playboy magazine in 1981, and appeared naked in their pages and on the cover in May of 1984. The first of these interviews caused a scandal, as she told Playboy that she and her husband had had sex on the steps of the U.S. Capitol during a break in an all-night House session. The comedy group "Capitol Steps" takes its name from this escapade. She separated from her husband in January 1981 and divorced him shortly after her first Playboy appearance.

Jenrette tried to develop a film career after her husband was imprisoned, appearing on television in the soap opera The Edge of Night, and then the movies Zombie Island Massacre (1984), The Malibu Bikini Shop (1985), and End of the Line (1988). The poster copy for Zombie Island Massacre promises:

The bus broke down. The driver has disappeared. Now the tourists are succumbing to the native charm. Maybe a visit to the local voodoo ceremony wasn't such a hot idea. Starring Playboy cover girl, Rita Jenrette. . ZOMBIE ISLAND MASSACRE is a terrifying tale filled with non-stop action and never-before-seen special effects. Featuring the unmistakable Playboy cover girl, ex-congressman's ex-wife, Rita Jenrette.

She wrote a book called My Capitol Secrets in 1981 that detailed infidelity and alcoholism in Congress, and repeated the story of having sex with her husband on the Capitol steps.

She now lives in New York City and sells real estate. By 1999, it was estimated that she had closed deals worth $300 million across the country. In that year, she sued Simon Properties for failing to pay her a commission on the $800 million sale of the General Motors Building to Donald Trump. She wanted $6,000,000 and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. A recent real estate listing says that she sold her suite at the Grand Millennium at 1965 Broadway for $1.9 million.

In the words of one of her husband's prosecutors, "Rita was a highly intelligent woman, who had the misfortune to look like a bimbo."