How 'Cosmo' Got Burt Reynolds to Pose Nude -- and All the Noes Who Came Before Him

Once upon a time, Burt Reynolds posed nude for Cosmopolitan
magazine. In fact, it was in the April 1972 issue, during Helen Gurley Brown’s
era at the magazine.

As editor-in-chief of Cosmo for 32 years, Brown was pivotal in transforming the magazine from
a women’s publication written by men to an international outlet for women by
women. She helped ladies own their sexual desires, and most famously focused the female gaze on Reynolds.

The issue, which sold out at the time, helped make the actor an international icon -- and gave women their own pinup to admire.

MORE: Burt Reynolds Talks Dark Period After Sally Field Breakup and Combating AIDS Rumors

Now 80, Reynolds regrets posing nude, telling an audience at SXSW, where he was promoting the new documentary, The Bandit: "It was really stupid.”

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Reynolds added. “Probably,
knowing me, it was like, ‘You won’t do that, you chicken,’ or something and I
went, ‘Well, that’s all I had to hear,’ of course. I said, ‘Yeah, I will.’”

But as author Brooke Hauser reveals in the new book, Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of
the Modern Single Woman, Reynolds wasn’t even Brown’s first choice. Or her
second. Or her fifth. It wasn’t until after a succession of noes from Hollywood’s
leading men at the time did she turn her attention to Reynolds, an
up-and-coming actor, about to get his big break in film with Deliverance.

Regrets or no regrets, the image is here to stay, even
resurfacing as marketing inspiration for Ryan Reynolds’ new film, Deadpool.

To find out exactly what happened behind the scenes, read an
excerpt -- chapter 47 to be exact -- from the book below:

From Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and
the Rise of the Modern Single Woman, copyright (c) 2016 by Brooke Hauser.
Reprinted by permission of Harper, Inc.