Actually I have read that Michael Reagan did not get along with his mother Jane Wyman and because of this he went at a young age to live with Nancy and Ronald but that then Nancy resented him being there and there was a strain there also. I credit Michael Reagan being Michael to Michael and his turn to the Lord helped tremendously. His book "OUTSIDE LOOKING IN" describes his young life. I think that his generation were a stronger lot and didn't have as much TV etc. to influence decisions. I really believe that he grew up appreciating what he had no matter what and learned from there. He is an extraordinary man and I would love for my kids, husband and I to meet Michael Reagan one day and shake his hand. If President Reagan didn't know what a wonderful son he had before he certainly does now and he waits patiently for him to join him one day as his son does also.
You're right about Michael not getting along with Jane Wyman but it's pretty clear she didn't play the blame game, making her ex-husband out to be a bad guy to the kids. If she had, maybe Michael would've been closer to her than to his dad. Instead, I suspect he resented her for divorcing him.
I had the honor of interviewing Maureen Reagan once, between the '76 and '80 elections. She showed so much of her father's good nature and optimism that I think she'd have been happy in a family of wolves. She was charming, witty, warm, intelligent, humble and very proud of BOTH her parents. In the end, she and Michael are kids anyone would be proud of. Patti and Ron, by comparison, seem spoiled and immature. Both sets of kids had to share their father with another family and the world. One set adapted, the other didn't.
If you credit Jane Wyman with nothing else, you have to give her high marks for never criticizing her ex-husband OR Nancy in public. How many women could resist that?