"America lost a former first lady, but I lost my mother. And I'm happy for her that she's with my father now."
Nancy Reagan’s daughter Patti Davis is speaking out for the first time since her mom's death.
Read: Saying Goodbye to Nancy: Casket Carrying Former First Lady Arrives at Reagan Library
Davis told NBC's Maria Shriver that she made peace with her mom long before her passing, after years of strained relations.
Davis said: “I feel very complete in my relationship with her. I feel very clear and clean in where our relationship came to, particularly the last few years of her life."
The pair reconciled their differences after her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she said.
"I really made a decision to try to look at her and look at us through a different lens, through a more loving, forgiving lens," she said. "That doesn't mean that it was a smooth journey. It was not. There were still a lot of peaks and valleys in there, and a lot of really deep valleys."
Davis walked alone behind her mother's casket on Wednesday as it was taken to the Reagan Library. She talked to Shriver about how she was feeling while walking into the library with the casket. Davis also spoke about her parents' enduring love for one another.
“The feeling was sort of like, if a band of gypsies came and took me and Ron [Jr.] away, they would miss us, but they'd be fine,” she laughed and told Shriver. “They would be fine.”
Read: Reagan's Daughter Slams 'Shameful' Critics Who Called Her Reaction to Her Mom's Death 'Terse'
Davis summed up her feelings of her mother’s passing saying: “Yes, America lost a former First Lady, but I lost my mother. And I'm happy for her that she's with my father now.”
Nancy Reagan, who passed away at 94 over the weekend from congestive heart failure, will lie in repose at the Reagan Library until her funeral so mourners can pay their last respects.
Executive director John Heubusch told INSIDE EDITION: “They'll be able to circle round the casket— almost be able to reach out and touch it.”
Watch: Tour the California Ranch Where Nancy and Ronald Reagan Lived for 23 Years
