When she finally left Marc, in 1991, one of the first new songs she wrote, "Free Yourself," was recorded by Chaka Khan. Her next giant hit would become the theme song for The First Wives Club. By the time she wrote "Love Is on the Way," she was living in New York, but still dealing with her feelings for Marc Rich. "I was so hurt," says Denise. "But I wanted to believe, you know? The whole positive thing: 'I'll get over you.' " And so she wrote a song about "starting on my own" and "not hanging on to heartbreak." (Kind of an Ivana song.)

It would become more than Denise Rich's mantra. At one of Denise's blowouts, in January 1995, Bette Midler happened to be among the guests when the singer Billy Porter (who is signed to Denise's record company) jumped to the piano and belted out "Love Is on the Way." "That song," Midler declared, "has to be in my movie!" Later, Celine Dion, after seeing The First Wives Club, recorded the song again, turning it platinum. In recent months, Denise has also written for Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin.

Denise's songs have turned up in some unlikely places. It was she who wrote the city's last theme song, "New York, It Ain't Over." And "All I Wanna Be Is Understood" -- which was written while she was exiled in Switzerland -- became the theme song for the Civil Rights Museum. "Isn't that the weirdest?" says Denise, who often says she feels like "I'm really black." Her "soul sister" Patti LaBelle, whose '98 Grammy-nominated album included two songs by Denise Rich, describes her as "a white woman with a black woman inside her screaming to get out."

When Rich moved back to the city permanently in the mid-nineties, she found herself a social outcast. But several shrewd moves and an endless flow of cash ensured that she wouldn't remain one for long. She hired, in quick succession, a publicist, cranky legend Bobby Zarem, who made sure she appeared in all the right columns, and an "imagist" (he prefers to be called "family friend"), Brad Boles, who says he helps "realize Denise's vision for parties and events" and helps pick out her clothes.

On off nights, Rich would make the scene with her posse, which consisted largely of black music associates and gay retainers. Even Zarem has been heard to grumble, "They drag her out to all these ditzy, drecky things at these stupid clubs, and here I am trying to maintain a prestigious image. I don't think much of any of them, but then, I'm not a hairdresser." Under Zarem's tutelage, Denise also set out to prove herself in a slightly loftier realm: politics. She wrote her first check to Bill Clinton during the Gennifer Flowers, draft-dodging days of his beleaguered campaign. Denise, after all, knew a thing or two about scandal, and says she felt an affinity with the charming candidate. "He is a beautiful person," says Denise. "We're all human, you know?"

Covering all bases, she has also generously supported Rudy Giuliani, the very man who chased her husband out of the country. "I came back here, and people thought I'd hang my head in shame," says Denise. "Why? I'm proud to be an American."

Even "during the darkest moments," the Clintons could count on Denise Rich, says Steve Grossman of the DNC. "She made it very clear she would do anything to help. And I don't just mean she writes checks. Lots of people write checks. But there are few who have, well, a sense of wonderment about it."