Second Acts

Caught in a scandal? Here's good news: You can reinvent yourself-but it takes work

Used to be that CEOs would whisk away to the Hamptons;

now they're iust as likely to be whisked away in handcuffs.

They are not alone. Movie and sports stars also seem to be

finding their way to the slammer-or rehab center-in record

numbers of late. Even the not-so-rich-and-famous get caught

up in scandals, of course. But are such unfortunates washed

RITA JENRETTE:

Leaving scandal behind

There it was again, catching up with

her, this time in a classroom at Har-

vard Business School. "One of the

young fellows came up and said, 'Are

you the Rita Jenrette who was in Play-

boy?'" says the former Texas beauty

queen, now in her third year in the

Executive Education program. "I said,

'Yes, but would you mind not saying

anything?'" The student agreed, but

when Jenrette walked into the school's

cafeteria later, "all these guys turned

around and looked," she says. "It was

a little embarrassing. "

Jenrette, 52, knows she may never

escape her past, but she says she has

learned not to let it slow her down.

In 1979 her then husband, South

Carolina Rep. John Jenrette, got

scooped up in an FBI sting during the

Abscam bribery scandal. Convicted of

taking a $50,000 bribe, he served

13 months in prison. His wife, 30 at the

time of the scandal, stretched out her 15

AP

"How could I know anything at 3O?" asks

Jenrette (with spouse John In 1980).

up for good? Was F. Scott Fitzgerald right when he said,

"There are no second acts in American lives"?

It appears there can be life after disgrace. Some who hit

rock bottom have found ways to reclaim their lives-and

even do good works. What follows are tales of those who once

misstepped but came back to triumph in Act 2.