Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy as you have never seen them before: Unearthed footage captures former President and First Lady playing around like giddy teens – revealing a VERY different side to their famously rocky relationship
Unseen footage of Ronald and Nancy Reagan shows the couple’s playful side following the 20th anniversary of the former president’s death.
Twenty years after Ronald’s death, NewsNation is honoring the late Republican Party member with a documentary entitled Reagan: Portrait of a Presidency.
The film, out today, June 8, examines the former president’s life through a different lens and chronicles the most harrowing moments of his personal and professional journey – including his relationship with Nancy – who passed away in 2016.
The couple, who married in 1952 and reportedly only tied the knot because of Nancy’s unplanned pregnancy, are said to have had a rocky relationship.
Their ups and downs will also be laid bare as viewers are transported back in time to experience Ronald’s two presidential terms in a new light.
Unseen footage of Ronald and Nancy Reagan shows the couple’s playful side after the 20th anniversary of the former president’s death
Twenty years after Ronald’s death, NewsNation honors the late Republican Party member with a documentary entitled Reagan: Portrait of a Presidency
In a series of clips shared exclusively with DailyMail.com ahead of the documentary’s release, Ronald and Nancy look lively as their infamous romance unfolded in public view.
The first video shows the couple – whose daughter recently made jaw-dropping claims about their relationship – taking a break from the day-to-day presidential business to enjoy a little fun.
In one segment, the lovers are seen pottering around their California ranch, which they often referred to as the “Western White House,” while they garden.
The 40th president began to chuckle as he lifted the water hose and began playfully spraying his wife.
Nancy let out a fake scream between fits of giggles.
Ronald then turned the water hose back to the grass before telling his wife that he had an ‘idea’ for an impromptu photo shoot.
‘I have another photo idea. I have the chainsaw and you’re holding me back,” he teased as Nancy stood next to him in disbelief.
Despite her shock, the former First Lady joined in on her husband’s prank, pretending to stop him from using the saw as the camera clicked in the background.
The couple, who married in 1952 and reportedly only tied the knot because of Nancy’s unplanned pregnancy, are said to have had a rocky relationship.
In a series of clips shared exclusively with DailyMail.com ahead of the document’s release, Ronald and Nancy look lively as their infamous romance unfolded under public scrutiny.
The first video showed the couple taking a break from the daily presidential business to have some fun
After they finished taking pictures and teasing each other in the yard, they went to the horse stable and enjoyed some quality time while riding.
And while they loved being next to each other, Nancy admitted she couldn’t stand the heat as she complained, “It feels like it’s 110 degrees!”
In the second rare video shared with DailyMail.com, the couple was once again seen doing yard work in their western White House, enjoying the bright rays of the sun.
The former president proved he never really took a day off as he chopped some wood and worked on the outside of their ranch.
“Very scientific work here,” he joked as he built a homemade fence around part of the ranch.
“You’re not supposed to lift things,” Nancy demanded off-camera at the end of the clip as her husband continued to work hard outside.
Nancy and Ronald married in 1952 following the former president’s divorce from his first wife Jane Wyman.
Last year, the couple’s first-born daughter, Patti Davis, revealed that Nancy convinced Ronald to marry her after she became pregnant in 1952.
After they finished taking pictures and teasing others in the yard, they went to the horse stable and enjoyed some quality time riding.
The former president proved he never really took a day off as he chopped some wood and worked on the outside of their ranch
Nancy and Ronald (pictured) tied the knot in 1952 following the former president’s divorce from his first wife Jane Wyman
Patti, now 72, who had a lifelong rocky relationship with her mother, claimed that Nancy’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy while carrying Patti was the secret reason for her parents’ marriage.
Nancy, who was unsuccessful as an actress, was one of the female then-Hollywood star Reagan was dating after his divorce from his first wife.
During their nine-year marriage, Wyman had two children, Michael and Maureen, and a third, Christine, who died shortly after birth.
According to Patti’s account in her memoir, Dear Mom and Dad: A Letter About Family, Memory, and the America We Once Knew, her father and Wyman “made a pact” that he would not remarry before she did.
According to his daughter, Ronald was overjoyed that he could finally play on the field and “didn’t really want to get married again.”
However, during a dinner with Ronald, Nancy dropped the bombshell that she was two months pregnant.
Patti noted that her father immediately excused himself from the table and called Jane to tell her that he could no longer honor their marriage pact, adding that marriage was now in the cards for him because Nancy had become pregnant with his child.
Last year, the couple’s first-born daughter, Patti Davis, revealed that Nancy convinced Ronald to marry her after she became pregnant in 1952.
Patti, now 72, who had a lifelong rocky relationship with her mother, claimed that Nancy’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy while carrying Patti was the secret reason for her parents’ marriage.
The Reagans were married on March 4, 1952, and Patti was born exactly six months later, on October 4.
The Reagans were married on March 4, 1952, and Patti was born exactly six months later, on October 4. The former president and Jane’s divorce was finalized in June 1949.
According to Nancy’s biographer, Kitty Kelley, Ronald continued to date an actress named Christine Larson during the first year of their marriage, telling her that he had been “tricked” into marriage by Nancy.
Kitty even claimed that the president was with Christine when Patti was born, although she wrote that Nancy was no angel either and accused her of having an affair with Frank Sinatra while she was in the White House.
In her slim but revealing 186-page memoir, written as a letter to her late parents, Patti claimed her birth was the only hiccup in her mother’s “romantic illusion” with Ronald.
Ronald died in 2004 at the age of 93 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for more than ten years. Nancy died in 2016 at the age of 94 from heart failure. They are buried together at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
