I was always an overachiever.

Before the boat docked, however, he confessed because he was contemplating running for president, he couldn't separate from his wife. I believed him when he told me he faced a difficult choice between pursuing personal happiness and his political destiny.

Although I'd first seen Senator Hart in Aspen, Colorado, at a New Year's Day party in 1987, we hadn't talked.

I've had to recover not only from a single well-publicized incident, but several years of press aftermath.

I was always an overachiever.

Shortly thereafter, some friends encouraged me to try out for the Miss South Carolina World beauty pageant. To my surprise, I won - and was sent to New York City to compete nationally.

But even after the first week, when Hart got out of the presidential race because of the Washington Post's threat to reveal a long-term relationship Hart had apparently been having with a prominent Washington woman, the media continued to embellish my past.