Billy Bush revealed during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter how his 15-year-old daughter reacted after listening to the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape in which Bush laughed as President Donald Trump, who was a reality TV star at the time, made crude remarks about women.
The Washington Post uncovered the recordings in October, just weeks before Trump won the Nov. 8 presidential election. The recordings captured Trump's voice on board a bus with Bush, who was then the host of "Access Hollywood."
The two were later seen on video getting off the bus on their way to the filming of a "Days of Our Lives" segment in which Trump was to make a cameo appearance.
“I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait," Trump said in the 2005 audio recording. “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.”
“Whatever you want,” Bush responded in agreement.
“Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything," Trump continued.
Then-candidate Trump apologized hours after the Post published the report. The Republican presidential nominee said that his words from more than a decade earlier "didn't reflect" who he is now. Trump apologized "if anyone was offended" by what he described as "locker-room banter."
NBC fired Bush from his job as a "Today" co-host in light of his encouragement of the crass remarks.
Bush, who is the nephew of former President George H.W. Bush, kept a low profile in the months following his ouster. But during The Hollywood Reporter interview published Sunday, Bush broke his silence and revealed for the first time how his teenage daughter reacted when she first heard her dad's comments.
Bush said his 15-year-old daughter, Mary, called him right after hearing the recording and asked him, "Why were you laughing at the things that he [Trump] was saying on that bus, Dad? They weren't funny."
That question, Bush told The Hollywood Reporter, "hit really hard."
"I stopped for a second, and I said, 'I have no answer for that that's any good. I am really sorry. That was Dad in a bad moment a long time ago. You know me. I am really sorry that you had to hear and see that. I love you,'" Bush said he told his daughter.
"She needed to hear that, and I certainly needed to tell her that," Bush continued, adding that, if he were in the same situation again, he would "shut it down quickly."
“Looking back upon what was said on that bus, I wish I had changed the topic. [Trump] liked TV and competition. I could've said, 'Can you believe the ratings on whatever?' But I didn't have the strength of character to do it," Bush acknowledged to The Hollywood Reporter.
(H/T: The Hill)
