Her paternal great-uncle, , also served in the military, and separately forged a career as a playwright and actor notably playing in the sitcom ; his brother, Daisy's grandfather, John Harry Dunn Ridley, , was head of the Engineering Secretariat at the from 1950 to 1965.
She was raised in Newport Beach, California by her mother, Janet Ann Ayres.
Graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.