Judith Campbell Exner

For 16 years, her past was a secret. Then it was . front-page news. Now she's telling her side of the story.

By Sally Quinn One day about a year ago Judith Exner's 4-year-old stepdaughter, Sarah, got into her car, ready to spend the weekend with her and her husband, Dan. "Mommy," said the child to her stepmother, "my other mommy doesn't like people like you." "I tried to explain to her," says Judith Exner new, that her mammy probably read some things about me that weren't true. But it confused her. And of course, it hurt me very badly." But what concerns Judith Exner more is that a lot of people today feel the same way "other mommy does"

Judith Exner, nee Judith Eileen Katherine lmmoor, married and divorced from actor William CaMphell and now married to Dan Exner, is known today to her friends simply as Kate. Last year, the story emerged from Senate bearings that one Judith Exner had been having simultaneous liaisons with Jack Kennedy while he was President of the United States and with Sam Giancana, the Mafia boss from Chicago who was- recruited by the CIA to aid in assassinating Fidel Castro. Until then, Judith Exner was living a happy, quiet life, anonymous and prosperous in Newport Beach, Calif. She lived in a large house (cord; plete with a pool and a pier) with her husband, her trained watchdog, and a gun under her pillow at night. All that has changed. After the story of her affairs with Kennedy and Giancana, her relationships with Frank Sinatra and with figures from the underworld were ex- posed, her life became a publicity nightmare. She claims she is still followed by the FBI. She has been labeled a spy, a whore, a mistress, a party girl, a bimbo. Her boot,: has been, she Says, rejected by major publishing houses for no apparent reason after large advances were offered. She has had one review in a major newspaper and one prime-time television interview cancelled and she has been called a liar by Kennedy intimates Evelyn Lincoln and Dave Powers. She also has been labeled an opportunist, exploiting her relationships, a crass materialist. Her sister refuses to see her or let her see her nieces and nephews, her husband's ex-wife refuses to let them see his daughter Sarah anymore. Many of her friends have dropped her. Even stores she used to patronize have declared ber per- sona non grata. So what kind of person is Judith Eileen Katherine Im- moor Campbell Exner anyway? There are several things to be considered here. Judith Exner was 25 years old when she first started seeing Jack Kennedy, before he was elected President. See EXNER, B3, Cot. 1 artititsvocomarsv ispiAirOlc&T&

'MUMMER' FRIDAY, 'JUNE 24, :1977•

V.,'Oilt1.0 an P08 EXNER, From BI at times, anxious and determined to tell her side of the story. She was single and she came from a Judith Exner comes across as a moneyed upper-middle-class family. In other words she had a substantial rather nice, rather ordinary middle- aged California housewife. Only she's amount of money of her own. Her not ordinary. father was a successful Los Angeles architect, her grandfather had made Just the slightest shaking of the a lot of money in real estate In the hand, the cool depth of those see- East. through blue eyes tearing up sudden- She had been married to an actor ly, the sensuous way she slides onto and was divorced. She had been en- the sofa, the easy way she smiles, the - gaged and was getting over that re- everpresent bottle of her favorite lationship, Jack Daniels—belle her portrait of She had grown up in California, the California housewife. had been raised in the Hollywood Looking at her, if you let your im- community with actors and actresses agination run away, you can allmost (Bob and Delores Hope) as friends of hear strains of "You're Nobody Un- her family, and had met Frank Sina- til Somebody Loves You," or "All tra through mutual friends. It was the Way," tw Sinatra songs of the through Sinatra that she met Jack '50's, the first Sams favorite, the sec- Service records and FBI documents Kennedy. ond, Jack's. that will eventually vindicate her. After her affairs with Kennedy was You can see her in her blue taffe- Probably the thing that angers Ju- over and she began a sexual relation- ta sheath with matching shoes and dith Exner most is the charge that ship with Giancana, even after that bag, a blue necklace which should, she is the Scarlet woman, the one to was over and after both men were as- Giancana told her on their first meet- blame. She abhors what she consid- sassinated, she never wrote or spoke ing, be diamonds. ers the double standard—the woman publicly of her relationships with She hasn't aged into this eara. She is the offender, the man absolved. either of them. She remained silent "I think it's terribly unfair," she still wears her hair, makeup and says. "I'm not a woman's libber. I for 16 years. Only after her story clothes as though broke in the papers and the accusa- she lived back then. love the fact that my husband takes tions began, she says, did she consi- She was a ritzy dame then, class- care of me. I'm not ambitious. I'm not der writing a book to tell her side. ier than the others she hung out with. a career girl. But it stops right there. Judith "Kate" Exner arrives with She didn't dish the dirt with the rest I think it's unfair, for instance that her husband at her hotel, the Water- shyness left over from when she was a woman or two women can't even go gate. and is shown to her room, a large retiring, timid child, a mama's girl. out to a restaurant together without bedroom with balcony and a living area. Only the mama's girl had grown having men try to pick them up, as- She quietly asks her husband to see if up into a Sugar Dady's dream, a sume they are just looking for a man. they can be moved to a suite. "I hate Ross McDonald heroine, a candidate It's in this area that the women's lib one room," she says. for the American Tragedy. has been a good thing." Her voice One's first instinct is to stare at her When she smiles all that mystery becomes slightly heated as she leans out of curiosity. What is it about this comes hack. Kate Exner, housewife forward. woman that would attract all those poW- becomes Judith Cambell, femme fa- "I was single. Jack Kennedy was erful men? tale (remember that word) mistress married and had two children. If any- She is of medium height, with long of the President, and mistress of the one was really the offender it would black hair, arched black eyebrows, pale, most powerful gangland boss in be Jack. I was a participant'. Yes. pale skin, heavily masearaed black eye- America. And I will he held accountable for lashes, and incredible deep, almost ir- She has almost forgotten. my own actions. But not for Jack's. ridescent blue eyes. I think that it's unfair that it's always She is bosomy with slim hips and She has been married to Dan Exner the woman who is labeled the hooker legs. She does resemble Elizabeth Tay- for two years and before that they or the prostitute—whether you have lar, as she has been told, and she has lived together for three. Eimer is 20 your own income or not." years old. He is a golf pro and now Judith Exner is just that much of a soft high voice which sounds like together the two of them have gone Taylor's. another generation, and bas just that into property speculation and real much left of her Catholic upbringing It is easy to see that Judith Exner estate which has earned them, she must have been gorgeous when she in convent schools that she still in- says, a very successful living. sists that what she did was wrong. was 25. But today, her experiences have They are extremely close, and she of the girls. She had that trace of , is clearly in need of his supportive- "I've never justified my position," taken their toll and she looks every ness, which he gives her freely. she says. "1 went with Jack Kennedy. bit her 43 years. At the beginning of the interview What I did was wrong. Flat out wrong. What is more striking than her looks, something is said which reminds her But there are a million ways to justify however, is her manner. It is quiet, of her mother's death by cancer and doing something if you care for serene. There's a stillness about her, a she begins to cry and excuses herself somebody. But this story has never peacefulness, a contentedness that for ieveral minutes. been treated as though he did wrong. would appeal to most men. "I'm sorry," she says. "I'm just tired. And I am trying to destroy that Myth. There also is a soft, fragile femi- Pm not used to this kind of exposure." People often ask her if she doesn't nine quality there that almost de- In her book, "Judith Exner, My feel guilty about the hurt she must mands protection. Story," she documents her rendezvous, be causing Jackie Kennedy and her There is none of the hey-boys-look- with Jack Kennedy, down to plane children. "I don't want to hurt any- me-over appeal of an Elizabeth Ray, tickets sent to her by Evelyn Lincoln, body," she says. -"But I don't want to ' for instance. hotel reservations, cards sent with be a sacrifical lamb either. I don't There is no question that Judith flowers, visits to the Kennedy's want to be destroyed. Exner Is hardly a genius. Her book Georgetown house before he became "People," she says, "have got to is written with a near childlike sim- President and visits to the White learn to accept their heroes as they plicity (except those parts which House. are, as human beings with frailties like seem to be written by her writer, There is no -way, today, to know human beings. I'm not a fan of Nix- veteran journalist Ovid Demaris). how much of what she says is the on's but he's been really put through She is forthright, simple, emotional truth. She claims there are Secret the wringer too." he had to have some feeling for me." have been an act. He did ask me to There are two things which bother marry him. On the other hand he her a lot, even now, about her rela- probably knew I'd say no. I'm so gul- tionship with Jack Kennedy. One is lible I believed everything he told me. her description of an incident in a But Sam was on Bob Kennedy's most hotel where he brought in another wanted strike force list of organized woman and suggested they try a crime leaders. Of course he (Gian- threesome. cana) would use the knowledge of my affair with Jack as a tool." The other was going to see him and She seems not to be uncomfortable sleeping with him at the house he and with the fact that once she discovered Jackie shared. Giancana's past she continued to see. "I went to his home two or three him. And made no value judgments.: times. When I look back on it now She admits she just didn't want to. I think how dreadful of me to go. know all the gory details, and blithely; But when you care . . . you have a discusses her involvement, saying, "I. way of rationalizing. It was a terrible think I do it with anybody I'm clam thing for him to do. He should never to. I accept them for what they are have asked me to come to his home. • to me. Not for what others think: There was no excuse for it. And no about therm" And she will also admit' excuse for me to go." She gets very upset, she says, when that attitude has been "rather dam- For that, she says, she respects htm aging to me." people ask why she has to dig up the less. "I was very Conveniently kid- past. Judith Exner seems to be an apolit- ding myself," she says. ical woman who acts mainly on in-:. "The more that comes out the bet- She thinks his interest in women, ter," she says. "It's the only way to stinct and intuition. But she will say his promiscuity was because "they this: "l'm a disbeliever. make politicians real. Somehow the had a very strong father. They are people have got to get a fair shake. all constantly trying to prove them- "I really don't think there's any If we can't accept them as they are selves in every way." such thing as 'an honest politician. I then we really are going to take Exner thinks her appeal for Jack think they're all controlled by others." a hard look at ourselves." Kennedy was simple. "I'm really very Judith Exner has received, she says. Both Exners claim they have been reserved," she says. "And I didn't a $1,000 advance for her book and has crushed by what they call "the Ken- want anything from him. Even when yet to sell the paperback rights. nedy machine." "It's everywhere," the FBI was following me I never told Whatever money she does make on says Dan Exner, and he relates sev- Jack. They were asking questions the book will go to legal fees for the eral examples of how interviews and about Sam and I didn't want to ask several lawsuits the Exners have go- stories have been canceled at the last him to help me." ing at the moment, a couple of libel minute. He shrugs. "You can't fight She is anxious to get Dave Powers sults and one suing the FBI for her city hall. But we are." and Evelyn Lincoln to go on televi- files. "It's obvious why none of the Ken- sion with her or be interviewed with For Exner this whole reemergence nedy people want to admit this," she her so she can face them down with and the attendant publicity has been says. the story. a shock because of the last 18 years "Evelyn Lincoln is a very loyal per- when she kept her silence. "Sixteen son. But she could have answered But it is her relationship with Sam years is a long time to keep a secret," very simply that I was a friend of Giancana that has garnered Judith she says. Exner the most criticism. In her book She explains herself during her Kennedy's and that he had many Kennedy-Giancana years simply, this' friends and it would all have died she says she met him in Miami through down." But by denying it all, says Sinatra (long after her affair with Sin- way: "In those years I was lost. Exner, the Kennedy people forced atra had ended she was on the peri- know what I have now is what I was-- her to come out and tell the story to phery of Sinatra's Rat Pack, travel- add 15 EXNER—Style Fri. Cap—x14.9 vindicate herself. looking for. I never did adjust to any ing occasionally with a group when other kind of life. I finally just stop- The thing that amazes her is that, the various entertainers in the group ped going out. I just stayed home fioe according to Exner, Kennedy himself had shows to perform. years with my parents until first my never tried to hide their relationship. "I didn't spend that much time with mother, then my father, died of can- "Jack never considered being dis- that group of people." she says. "When cer. Then I withdrew completely." creet," she says. "There were times I was with Frank I was always very One wonders, after all her years of and places when he wanted me to quiet. I didn't really fit in. I'm not seclusion and anonymity, whether meet him that would have been so that hip, glib kind of person. I don't. doing this book and having to go blatant I would have been embarrass- let go. It's just not in my nature." through with the publicity all over ed. He felt he could do what he want. When she met Giancana she was in- again is worth it. ed. That he was above it all. It was troduced to him as Sam Flood, a "I'M dealing with my gut reaction," that trait of being above it all, that Chicago businessman, and it wasn't she says. "I really truly feel I've been arrogance that was the key." It was, for a long while that she discovered wronged. I'm doing the book tour be- she says, why he could have her in who he really was. cause of opposition. I want people to his wife's home and in the White "I knew nothing about Sam's CIA see what I'm like." House, in their bed and not give it a connections," she insists. "Absolutely She suddenly seems to be injected second thought. nothing. It would have been foolish with a strength and her whole posture "There was also the belief on his for him to tell me." She wasn't, she changes for just a moment before part that even if I told, nobody would says, in love with Giancana and it she goes back into her state of re- believe me." wasn't until a year and a half after pose. She's not sure about how she felt they met that she began to have an "John F. Kennedy is a source of then., "I think I thought I was in love affair with him. "It was just emo- great hardship for me," she says. with him. My relationship with him tional security," she says now. "It's "Sam Giancana is a source of great was safe. I was in love to the extent hard for me to look hack and see I hardship for me. I'm very sorry this I could be. I think he was in love was being used. whole thing came up. I would rather with me to the extent he could fall "I do think now I was used. It was have gone on with my life, with my in love. I believe some things I hear very advantageous for him to be with husband, privately, the way we were. about him now. I question others. But the girl friend of the President. I But God Almighty, now that it's come with all the time he spent with me think his professed love couldn't all up I will fight it to the grave." . , wmathigton pc,t, Judith sad Dar. Exner. by aribrIesThI vecehl,:tha