A Texas heiress posed for Playboy in a bid to get back at her cheating politician husband.
Rita Jenrette Boncompagni Ludovisi, 73, was born into enormous wealth and lived in a $1.4million house in San Antonio, Texas, US.
She grew up a Republican family but stunned her family when she decided to marry South Carolina Democrat lawmaker John Jenrette in 1976.
Rita, who was 26 at the time, married John, 40, after growing close with the politician while working as a research director for the Republican National Committee.
She resigned from the party after being asked to spy on her husband's rival political party.
However, their marriage soon started to crumble when the politician had a fall from grace after he was convicted of bribery and conspiracy in 1980.
John claimed alcoholism made him lose his judgment when he accepted a $50,000 bung from an undercover agent.
The bribe offer was part of the Abscam investigation to see which members of Congress would accept wealthy offers in exchange for favours.
The congressman was sentenced to two years in jail, five years on probation and fined $20,000 with Rita testifying during the trial.
One Senator and six Representatives were convicted of charges as a result of the investigation.
Just a year later, the couple divorced after she claimed it was due to his "years of cheating".
Rita then decided to pose topless for Playboy after Mr Jenrette reportedly said nobody wants to look at a 29-year-old with no clothes on.
She said it inspired her to strip naked for the magazine as she quipped: "I just thought, I'll show you."
She penned an essay which looked back on her time in politics and her marriage after claiming: "I've been found guilty of an equally serious offense: not fitting in."
Rita accused her critics of hating on her due to being "too flashy, too blonde, too outspoken" to be a politician's wife.
Rita wrote after her ex-husband's conviction: "'If you are living a public life and you don't speak out openly and honestly then what have you lived for?"
She once made the revelation the pair had sex on the steps of Congress but has since distanced herself from it.
She moved to LA after becoming single and tried to become an actress and appeared in several films including Fantasy Island in 1982, 1984's Zombie Island Massacre and in 1986 appeared Off-Broadway in A Girl's Guide to Chaos.
But when her acting career started to fade she moved to New York and became a successful estate broker.
She met her third husband His Serene Highness Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi through mutual friends in 2002.
The pair married in 2009 and lived together in Rome in the historic $600 million Villa Aurora until he died in 2018.
However, she was "brutally evicted" from the house on April 20 after a court ruled that she allowed an exterior wall in the property to crumble - something she strongly denies.
Just before her eviction she posted a video saying: "It's illegal. I think that it's a travesty this is a brutal ending and unnecessary.
"It didn't have to happen this way I don't get it. Someone said it's because I'm a woman and I'm American
"This is so illegal it's incomprehensible what they're doing. It's all about money obviously.'"
Rome Judge Miriam Iappelli issued an eviction order in January after claiming she violated a previous order stopping her from conducting guided tours of the property.
Rita claimed the tours were to generate money to help keep the property maintained.
However her objections were rejected by the judge and she was forced to vacate.
