Back in ’72, Burt Reynolds became the first man to pose naked for a mainstream ladies magazine when he shot a centerfold for Cosmopolitan, but now says he wishes he hadn’t done it. Dduring an interview with AOL’s What To Watch at SXSW in Austin he said,

“It was really stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking. I really wish I hadn’t done that.“

Nevertheless, the picture cemented him as a Hollywood heartthrob and ladies man, following a string of TV leads and as his starring role in the John Boorman film Deliverance was about to hit theatres.

“As long as it was only a certain amount of pubic hair showing, I was all for it, you know. The only rules I had… I wanted a lot of drinks before. I have to be truthful, I was totally zonkered when I did the picture. That stupid smile, that’s what it is you know.”

The centerfold sold a ton of copies for Cosmo. 1.5 million. The issue sold out in a flash. Well, if you’re going to pose nude, you might as well do it in your prime when you’re hot as fuck.

(via The Daily Mail)