Ronald Reagan’s memory lives on through his children: Maureen, Michael, Christine, Patti and Ron.
When he was best known as an actor during the Golden Age of Hollywood, Ronald met his first wife, fellow actress actress Jane Wyman. The pair married in 1940 and welcomed three children together: daughters Maureen and Christine and son Michael. (Unfortunately, Christine was premature and died the day she was born, on June 26, 1947. Maureen later died from skin cancer at the age of 60 in 2001.)
A few years after Ronald and Wyman divorced, the actor met Nancy Reagan. They married in 1952 and welcomed their daughter Patti that same year. The couple later celebrated the arrival of their son, Ron.
As Ronald’s political career took off, his kids marked their own paths in acting, radio, philanthropy and politics. Since his death in 2004, they have shared stories from their time with him and have also continued to carry on his legacy through their personal work.
Most recently, the biographical drama Reagan, based on the 2007 book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, is showcasing the life of the late 40th president of the United States, from his childhood to his family and career.
Here’s everything to know about the late former president Ronald Reagan’s children, Maureen, Michael, Christine, Patti and Ron.
Maureen Elizabeth Reagan
Ronald Reagan with his first wife, Jane Wyman, and their daughter Maureen Reagan in 1946.
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Ronald and Wyman welcomed their daughter Maureen Elizabeth Reagan on Jan. 4, 1941.
After Ronald and Wyman met on the set of the 1938 comedy drama Brother Rat, on which they were leads, the fellow actors married two years later and shortly after, started a family with the arrival of Maureen.
Decades later, Maureen reflected on her childhood and life before Ronald entered politics, sharing anecdotes in her 1989 book, First Father, First Daughter: A Memoir.
In it, she recounted spending time with him, driving around Los Angeles having long conversations and playing pretend with the Kings Row star. But Maureen remembered their dynamic shifting when he and her mom Wyman divorced in 1948 when she was 7 years old.
President Reagan walks with his daughter Maureen Reagan during a White House visit on July 31, 1985.
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By the time Ronald embarked on his political career — first as the governor of California and then the 40th U.S. president — Maureen had pursued various interests, including acting.
“I wanted to do something, be somewhere, I wanted to be an actress, and to be one, you had to know something of the world,” she told The New York Times about dropping out of Marymount College after her freshman year.
She eventually became involved in the Republican party and was elected as co-chair of the Republican National Committee in 1987, the United Press Internationalreported. Throughout her time in politics, she supported women’s issues, like abortion rights.
Maureen was married three times and was wed to public relations executive Dennis Revell for 20 years when she died at the age of 60 from melanoma on Aug. 8, 2001. Maureen and Dennis shared one daughter named Rita.
Michael Edward Reagan, 78
Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman with their children Maureen and Michael, circa 1946.
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Ronald and Wyman welcomed their son, Michael Edward Reagan, on March 18, 1945, via adoption.
Like his parents and sister, Michael starred in a few acting roles, most notably in five episodes of the CBS soap opera Falcon Crest, in which his mom was a lead. Around the same time, he was named the first host of game show Lingo.
Michael eventually stepped away from the camera and went behind the microphone as a radio talk show personality. In the early aughts, he hosted The Michael Reagan Showfor nearly two decades speaking on conservative political matters. Michael’s syndicated talk radio program reportedly brought in 5 million listeners, per his Newsmax bio.
Republican strategist Michael Reagan speaks at a get-out-the-vote rally for U.S. Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle featuring U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at The Orleans October 29, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Since ending the radio show, he has continued having a presence in politics as a commentator and strategist. He’s also a contributor to conservative news outlet Newsmax, speaking about his father Ronald’s memory and personal takes on current events.
Similar to his siblings, Michael has recalled his life experiences in different written work, including 1988’s On the Outside Looking and 2004’s Twice Adopted. Apart from his career, he’s been married to his wife, Colleen, for over 40 years and they share two adult children: Ashley and Cameron.
Patricia “Patti” Davis, 71
Patti Davis visits the SiriusXM Studios on February 07, 2024 in New York City.
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Ronald and Nancy welcomed their first child together, daughter Patricia “Patti” Davis, on Oct. 21, 1952. Born Patricia Reagan, she later chose to take on her mother’s maiden name.
Patti had a complicated relationship with her parents throughout her life, which she described in several books. After her time as a first daughter, Patti reflected on her family in 1992’s The Way I See It: An Autobiographyand 2024’s Dear Mom and Dad: A Letter About Family, Memory, and the America We Once Knew.
In particular, she tried to reconcile why she and Nancy weren’t close, coming to terms with her mom’s difficult childhood and how it affected their mother-daughter relationship later on.
“My mother has been the most challenging relationship in my life,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 2023. “I feel like I have come to a place of more insight into her, more forgiveness, and more acceptance that it was always going to be a difficult relationship. I think you have to accept the fact that there are things you will never have an answer for.”
Speaking to The Guardian in 2024, Patti recalled Ronald’s career in politics as a focal point when she was a child, discussing the intricacies of government while eating dinner instead of her struggles at school.
The topic became more layered as she grew older and he was elected president, with the trio avoiding politics because Patti’s beliefs were far different from Ronald and Nancy’s conservative perspectives.
California Governor Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, gather around the Christmas tree with children Patti and Ron in December 1970.
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Later in life, though, she found that same forgiveness with her father, caring for him during the last decade of his life as he dealt with Alzheimer’s. In an interview with PEOPLE in 2021, Patti shared that her relationship with her dad deepened after he was diagnosed in 1994 as she got to know him in a different way.
“There [had been] so much else in the way — my wanting him to be a more available, present father got in the way of really appreciating and being grateful for the human being he was underneath everything,” she said.
In the same vein, Patti got the opportunity to understand her mother as she “lost the love of her life.”
Seeing her father in this state and watching her mother continue to look after him inspired her to become an advocate for Alzheimer’s, with an emphasis on caretakers. She created the support group Beyond Alzheimer’s, where people can “talk openly and freely about what they’re going through, what they feel and fear and wrestle with,” she wrote on the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement website.
Away from her public family, Patti was also an actress, best known for her roles in the TV series Hart to Hart and the films Tango & Clash and The Curse of the Pink Panther. Since leaving the screen, she’s continued writing memoirs and novels, including Home Front and Till Human Voices Wake Us.
In terms of her personal life, she married her yoga teacher, Paul Grilly, in 1984, but they split in 1990.
Ronald “Ron” Prescott Reagan, 66
Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan’s son Ron Reagan.
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Ronald and Nancy welcomed their second child together, Ronald “Ron” Reagan, on May 20, 1958.
From a young age, Ron recognized he had different viewpoints from his parents, who were devout Christians. Speaking to Los Angeles Times in 2020, Ron recounted the moment he told his father he would no longer be attending church.
“I was 12 when I told my father I wasn’t going anymore,” he told the newspaper. “I said I didn’t want to be hypocritical, disrespectful and fake it. It was a waste of a perfectly good Sunday morning.”
Ron added that Ronald didn’t try too hard to convince him otherwise and it would be the start of their varying perspectives.
In 1976, when Ron attended a performance of The Nutcracker with his sister Patti, he decided to drop out of Yale’s Davenport College after one semester to pursue a ballet career, according to The New York Times.
Subsequently, Ron enrolled in the Stanley Holden School of Ballet, where he trained for two years and earned a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School in 1979. Ron was eventually asked to join its dance company, Joffrey Ballet, where he moved up the ranks until he asked to be released early from his contract in 1983.
Though Ron didn’t share the reason behind his decision, Ronald and Nancy expressed their support. “We’re behind him in whatever career change he chooses to make,” they said in a statement.
Two years prior, the president wrote about his son’s talent after attending one of his performances. “He was darn good,” Ronald penned in his diary. “He has a grace that is remindful of Fred Astaire—a little extra flair that makes it all look easy.”
Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan with their son Ron Reagan on July 17, 1972.
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After leaving the stage, Ron stepped in front of the camera a few years later and explored acting, similar to his dad and sister. In the last ’80s, he appeared in the movie Soul Manand the shows Webster and Cinemax Comedy Experiment.
Around the same time, while Ronald was in his second term as president, Ron also hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live. In his opening monologue, he mentioned his father and quipped at his unique position in the country.
In the years follow Ronald’s departure from the White House, Ron became a political commentator, hosting his own late-night talk show The Ron Reagan Show, and co-hosted Connected: Coast to Coast on MSNBC. After his late-night talk show was canceled, Ron continued it on the airwaves on Air America Radio.
Today, he’s still active in politics, often sharing how his dad would feel about modern American policies.
To mark what would have been his dad’s 100th birthday in 2011, Ron published a book about his life, My Father at 100, in which he gave an intimate look at his upbringing alongside the former president and what he was like behind the scenes.
Five years later, at his mom Nancy’s funeral, Ron reflected on his parents’ love and how it propelled them to be the best versions of themselves.
“She loved her husband more than anything in the world and I think that you can make the case that the Ronald Reagan that we all came to know as president would not have existed without Nancy Reagan,” he said.
On the personal front, Ron was married to his wife, Doria Palmieri, for 33 years until her death in 2014.
