To most Americans, Ronald Reagan was an actor who became the president. To Piper Laurie, he was a co-star who became her lover. In her 2011 autobiography, Learning to Live Out Loud, the now-91-year-old revealed that she lost her virginity to the future politician and shared some not-very-flattering details about their first sexual encounter. According to the Carrie star, Reagan was a "show-off," who gave her some shocking advice about her sexual experience while they were together.
Read on to see what Laurie had to say about losing her virginity to Reagan and why she later said that she regretted sharing the story.
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Laurie and Reagan were co-stars.
Universal PicturesLaurie and Reagan both appeared in the 1950 comedy Louisa. He received top billing, while she played his character's teenage daughter. When the film was released, Reagan was 39 years old and his acting career was well-established; his first film was 1937's Love Is on the Air. Meanwhile, Louisa was the debut film for Laurie, who was 18.
Laurie's most significant movie roles came later on in her career. She went on to be nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actress for The Hustler (1961), and Best Supporting Actress for Carrie (1976) and Children of a Lesser God (1986).
Of course, in his later career, Reagan moved from movies to politics. He served as President of the United States from 1981 to 1989.
Laurie lost her virginity to him.
Universal PicturesLaurie wrote about sleeping with Reagan in her 2011 memoir. When they got together in 1950, Reagan had divorced his first wife, Jane Wyman, and was two years away from marrying his second wife, Nancy Davis. Laurie would later be married to Joe Morgenstern from 1962 to 1982.
This particular part of Laurie's memoir made headlines when it was published in 2011. TheWrap editor Kristen Lopez recently posted excerpts from the book on Twitter, sharing it with those who may have missed it the first time around.
"The evening up to that point had been quite romantic. But the actual intimacy with Ronnie with without grace," Laurie wrote of her time with Reagan. "I can appreciate it now; Ronnie was more than competent sexually. He was also a bit of a show-off. He made sure I was aware of the length of time he had been 'ardent.' It was forty minutes. And he told me how much the condom cost. In all fairness, I suppose that was to reassure me."
Laurie also wrote that it was a "stunning revelation … to be so physically close to someone, actually interwoven with another human being."
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He gave her some unsolicited advice.
The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty ImagesLaurie said that when she and Reagan had sex, he tried to give her some unsound medical advice, which came as a shock.
"[M]ore than a few times during intercourse, he said, 'There’s something wrong with you. You should have had many orgasms by now—after all this time. You’ve got to see a doctor about your abnormality.' He used the word. 'And maybe a doctor can find out why it hurt you so at first. There’s something wrong with you that you should fix,'" she wrote.
His words didn't worry Laurie, however. She wrote that she wasn't surprised that having sex for the first time would hurt, because she was "expecting a little pain. Didn't everyone know that?" She also wrote that she was "no stranger to orgasms" because she had discovered them on her own before ever having sex with someone else.
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Laurie later regretted sharing so much of the story.
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for TCM)Laurie told Closer in 2018 that she regretted revealing so many details about her sexual experience with Reagan, who died in 2004, in her book.
Asked about her Louisa co-star, she said, "A lovely man. I wish I hadn’t written quite so much about our encounter in [my 2011 memoir] Learning to Live Out Loud." She explained further, "I could have told the story without such explicit detail. I was invited to the White House for a party when he was leaving office and I declined because it didn’t feel right." When she was asked if he was a good kisser, she responded, "Oh, yes!"
