Ronald Reagan’s Daughter Patti Davis Tells Prince Harry She Regrets Her Own Tell-All Ahead of His Explosive ‘Truth’ Bombs in ‘Spare’
Patti Davis, daughter of former United States President Ronald Reagan, warned Prince Harry of the potential fallout from his “truth” bombs in his memoir, Spare. Davis, who penned a book in 1993 that peeled back the covers on her complicated relationship with her father, now wishes she had not aired her family’s dirty laundry. She admits her tell-all is a “book she wishes she hadn’t written” and cautions the Duke of Sussex of what he may expect in return for telling his truth.
Patti Davis penned ‘Family Secrets’ about life as Ronald Reagan’s daughter
Davis’ book was reviewed in a 1993 Los Angeles Times editorial. In it, she told her version of her life as a member of the Reagan family.
At the time, the former first daughter said, “I wasn’t trying to tell my parents anything with this book. That’s a wrong reason to do something,” Davis says. “I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do. It was time to tell the truth. I thought the misperceptions about this family were where the unkindnesses were. And it was time just to let all that drop.”
Unfortunately, Davis sees parallels between her book and Prince Harry’s. In a New York Times op-ed, she spoke of the “value of silence” to the Duke of Sussex.
Patti Davis told Prince Harry that the ‘truth’ could be complicated
Davis’ op-ed was published on Jan. 7, just 24 hours before Harry’s interviews with ITV and 60 Minutes aired. “My justification in writing a book I now wish I hadn’t written (and please, don’t go buy it; I’ve written many other books since) was very similar to what I understand to be Harry’s reasoning. I wanted to tell the truth.
She continued, “I wanted to set the record straight. Naïvely, I thought if I put my feelings and my truth out there for the world to read, my family might come to understand me better.”
“Of course, people generally don’t respond well to being embarrassed and exposed in public,” Davis explained. ” I’ve learned something about the truth. It’s way more complicated than it seems when we’re young. There isn’t just one truth, our truth — the other people who inhabit our story have their truths as well.”
Prince Harry’s ‘Spare’ will likely have long-lasting consequences for the royal family, said Davis
“The door is always open.”
— ITV (@ITV) January 5, 2023
Prince Harry sits down for an exclusive interview with Tom Bradby this Sunday at 9pm on ITV1.
Harry: The Interview | Watch on ITV1 or stream on ITVX at 9pm on Jan 8.@tombradby #ITV #ITVX pic.twitter.com/dJotkK7pOz
In an interview with ITV, Prince Harry noted that in the future, he would like to have a relationship with his father, King Charles III, and brother, Prince William. However, Davis said Harry’s words could have long-lasting consequences for the royal family.
Davis was clear in her op-ed that Harry and William will have “to walk a long distance across a battlefield that he has now expanded.”
“Years ago, someone asked me what I would say to my younger self if I could. Without hesitating, I answered: ‘That’s easy. I’d have said, ‘Be quiet.’ Not forever. But until I could stand back and look at things through a wider lens. Until I understood that words have consequences that last a long time,” the former first daughter noted.
However, she concluded, “Not everything needs to be shared, a truth that silence can teach. Harry seems to have operated on the dictum that ‘Silence is not an option.’ I would respectfully suggest to him that it is.”
