Members of the First Family always have heavy security. The Secret Service guards them very closely in public. So when then-First Lady Nancy Reagan made a guest appearance on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes in 1983, she came with her whole big entourage. In addition, President Ronald Reagan accompanied her and was sitting in the audience. That is according to its star, Todd Bridges. Security measures were therefore as super-tight as they could possibly be.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Nancy Reagan was at the time publicizing her "Just Say No" campaign against drug use. Diff'rent Strokes aired on NBC from 1978 to 1986. Other cast members included Charlotte Rae, Gary Coleman, Mary Ann Mobley, Conrad Bain, and Dana Plato, per People.
"The Biggest, Craziest Nightmare Ever"
When Todd Bridges called the experience a "nightmare," he was not referring to the stylish First Lady herself. Speaking on Taboo's Comics & Kicks, the actor, now 61, shared, "Nancy Reagan was on the show, but the president came in the audience, and the audience was all Secret Service. It was the biggest, craziest nightmare ever. It was terrible. But I tell you, I learned a lot, too, about Secret Service. One of the guys showed me in his trunk; they had surface-to-air missiles in there and stuff. I was like, 'Oh my gosh.' Yeah. It was a no-fly zone."
He also mentioned, "If they came close, they'd shoot you out the sky. Man, it was crazy. And it was like, you got scanned when you came close, you got scanned again, then they would scan you again, and then scan you again before you actually got in the door. It was a nightmare. We couldn't wait till she left."
Nancy Reagan's Efforts To Curb Drug Abuse
Per the web site of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute, the "Just Say No" initiative was close to Nancy Reagan's heart. She said, "Drugs take away the dream from every child's heart and replace it with a nightmare, and it's time we in America stand up and replace those dreams."
Reagan, who died in 2016 at 94, did her part. Per the Foundation, she made "110 appearances and fourteen anti-drug speeches in 1984 alone...She traveled "to sixty-five cities in thirty-three states and nine foreign countries."
And to the set of Diff'rent Strokes!
