Burt Reynolds regrets his nude Cosmopolitan shoot

Back in 1972, Burt Reynolds posed in the pages of Cosmopolitan lying naked on a bear-skin rug. In 2016, he has some second thoughts.

Speaking with “What To Watch” at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, Reynolds says he regrets the iconic nude centerfold.

“I wish I hadn’t done that. I really do,” he said.

Reynolds continued by musing about what prompted him to say yes to the Cosmo spread.

“It was really stupid. I don’t know what I was thinking,” he said. “But I probably, knowing me, was like, ‘You won’t do that, you chicken,’ or something. And that’s all I had to hear, of course. I said, ‘Yeah, I will.’”

The actor added, “The only rules I had was I wanted a lot drinks before because I was a little bit, well, I have to be truthful, I was totally zonkered when we did the picture. And that stupid smile [in the photo], that’s what it is.”

Reynolds was at SXSW for The Bandit, a documentary about him and Hal Needham, his friend and stunt double, who died in 2013 at the age of 82.

“Knowing Hal, he not only was amazing in so many ways, but he had a tremendous ego, which I loved,” Reynolds told AOL, adding that the two never fought and were just “two guys that thought that the other one was great and at the same time we were happy just to have a mirror there.”

Head here to see Reynolds speak more about The Bandit and his Cosmo shoot.