Rice Sidesteps Queries About Hart on Show

Donna Rice, the actress-model whose relationship with Gary Hart derailed his presidential campaign, declined Thursday to say whether she ever slept with the married former senator and Democratic front-runner.

In an interview on ABC’s “20/20,” Rice was asked, “Did you sleep with Gary Hart?”

“I don’t want to answer you,” Rice replied. “The reason is because it’s a question of dignity. Whether I did, whether I didn’t with Gary Hart or anybody else, I wouldn’t answer it one way or the other.”

Time With Hart

Rice, 29, visited Hart at his Washington town house, while his wife, Lee, was home ill in Colorado, the weekend of May 2, and it was later disclosed the pair took an overnight yachting trip in March to the island of Bimini with friend and Hart fund-raiser William Broadhurst.

The Miami Herald, tipped off about the Washington visit, staked out Hart’s house and published a story that led to Hart’s withdrawal from the race for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination.

While Rice refused to criticize Hart, she did rap Lynn Armandt, who accompanied her on both trips with Hart and then sold photographs and stories about Rice--that Rice said she never authorized--to the National Enquirer and People magazine.

Story in Enquirer

The Enquirer reported Hart had promised to divorce his wife and marry her, and that she replied: “My, I’m going to be First Lady.”

“I was livid. I couldn’t, I can’t believe that type of journalism,” Rice said on “20/20.” Asked if the report were true, she shot back, “Do you think I’m a moron?”

Armandt was one of the two people who knew Rice would be visiting Hart in Washington, the model said, and who could have tipped off the Miami Herald. Armandt also was the only person who had photographs of Rice sitting on Hart’s lap in Bimini, she said.

“It’s a real slap in the face, stab in the back, salt poured in an open wound,” Rice said of the stories Armandt sold.