What Happened To Ronald Reagan's Children?
Former actor and governor of California, Ronald Reagan, became the 40th president of the U.S. in January 1981. His election was one of the biggest landslides in history, says USA Today. He entered the White House as a father of four, alongside his wife, first lady Nancy Reagan. Reagan was married twice. His first wife was actress Jane Wyman, whom he married in 1940, per Wide Open Country. The couple became parents in 1941 to their first child, a daughter named Maureen. In 1945, they had a new addition to the family with the adoption of a son, a boy they named Michael (via KLTV). The Reagans adopted him at just a few days old. Two years later, they were set to have another child when Jane gave birth to a baby girl they called Christine. Sadly, she did not live. They would divorce a few short years later. Then he met actress Nancy Reagan, and they married in 1952, having two kids. A daughter, Patricia Ann, was born that same year, and a boy, Ronald Prescott, was born in 1958, per the Reagan Library.
His children were all grown adults when he won the presidency, and the first kids would not live in the People's House with him, per Clinton White House. However, they did visit very often, and spent time with their father on various occasions at the mansion, per Reagan Library. After completing two terms in office from 1981 to 1989, Reagan, Nancy, and his children left national attention. But what happened to them?
Reagan's oldest daughter
Ronald Reagan's eldest child was politically involved, too. Maureen Reagan was a popular Republican figurehead during the early '80s because she campaigned for the party often. While she did run for Senate and House seats, she never held any public office position. Maureen was mostly known for being a vocal conservative voice for women. She and her father's politics somewhat differed on a few issues — something that played out publicly (via The Washington Post).
The thrice-married Maureen met her third and final husband, Dennis Revell, and married him a few months after her father was sworn president, per The New York Times. The couple had only one child, their daughter Rita, who they adopted from Uganda (via Tampa Bay Times). Unfortunately, Maureen would be diagnosed with cancer and spent five years with melanoma. It would worsen and spread to her brain. She died at the age of 60 in 2001, and was survived by her husband and daughter. Before her death, President Bush signed a law to ensure that her daughter had a green card (via Associated Press).
Reagan's youngest daughter
Maureen Reagan's younger sister Patricia Ann, or Patti, got married ahead of her father's reelection in 1984, per The New York Times. Her marriage ended in 1990, and she and her ex-husband had no children. She dated a few years after and was expected to go down the aisle again (per Buffalo News), but she never remarried. She spent most of her career working as an actress and singer, posing for Playboy magazine, and is also known as an author, per the Reagan Library.
She even changed her surname to Davis (her mother's maiden name) to form her own identity outside her family's. Contrasting her sister, Patti is mostly known for being a Reagan woman with very liberal views that greatly differed from her parents and Maureen's (via Newsweek). She is a supporter of many left-leaning issues. Today, she is still very active and recently wrote an opinion piece about the release of her father's would-be assassin in The Washington Post.
Reagan's sons
Michael Reagan (pictured right) is the oldest son and the only non-biological child of the Reagan family. He was 4 years old when he learned his true identity, per KLTV. It proved to be a challenge for him growing up and facing teasing from his peers. When he was young, he would also allegedly face sexual abuse — an incident he wouldn't come out about until decades later. Michael is a well-known author and has written books, including two autobiographies and ones about American politics and his father, shows Thrift Books.
He's been married twice and has two children named Ashley and Cameron with his wife Colleen, says Reagan Library. When he's not writing books, Michael is having public spats or disagreements with his little brother Ronald, per Politico. The same way the Reagan sisters differed politically, so do the brothers.
Ronald Prescott Reagan (pictured left), or Ron, is the youngest of Reagan's children. Like his sister Patti, he, too, would go into acting and entertainment (via IMDb). Also, like his sibling, Ron has liberal leanings as well. He is often on television discussing these matters as a commentator (per Penguin Random House). Ron spent over three decades married to his wife Doria Palmieri until she died in 2014 at the age of 62 (per Vanity Fair). He has since remarried to a woman named Federica Basagni, who he wed in 2018, per the Reagan Library.