Road To A Reconciliation
The strained relationship between Patti Davis and her parents, former President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan, has been well documented.
"There was definitely more fire between me and my mother. I was never angry at my father. I was angry at his job choice," Davis tells correspondent Lesley Stahl on CBS Sunday Morning, anchored by Charles Osgood, March 29 at 9 a.m. ET.
Stahl speaks with Davis and her mother who, after decades of feuding, say they are now closer and that their relationship continues to improve after a heartfelt apology Davis made. "I said, 'I know I've caused you pain. It was never my intention to do so…But I know I did and I want you to know I'm sorry,'" Davis recounts.
Now the two speak every day, but the always-candid Davis says, "[It's] not like a Hallmark card. It wasn't suddenly everything is just fine and pink and rosy. It's not like there are never moments of pushing buttons."
It is their turbulent relationship that inspired Davis to write her latest book, "The Lives Our Mothers Leave Us: Prominent Women Discuss the Complex, Humorous, and Ultimately Loving Relationships They Have with Their Mothers," featuring stories from women like Lorna Luft, Angelica Huston and Lily Tomlin.
"I do regret speaking out in the way that I did about my political differences with my father... really, all I was communicating was that I was at war with my parents," Davis explains.
Ultimately, it was former President Reagan's illness that marked the beginning of their reconciliation. In the days leading up to his death, Nancy Reagan leaned on her only daughter. "Those moments are very huge," Davis says. "It's one of those role reversal moments... here your mother is weeping in your arms like you did in her arms when you were a child."
"Most mothers and daughters go through this experience, this period. However, at the end of the day they'll probably be back together," adds a reflective Nancy Reagan as she looks back on their years of estrangement. "There is hope," she laughs.