Billy Bush

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William Hall "Billy" Bush (born October 13, 1971), co-host of the syndicated NBC Universal TV show Access Hollywood. He is a first cousin of United States President George W. Bush.

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Professional personality

Prior to his leading role on the show, he was an East Coast correspondent in New York City from early 2002 until mid-2004, when NBC did not renew Pat O'Brien's contract, and he left the show to host the new television program, The Insider.

Bush is known for his light-hearted sense of humor and on-air high jinks with celebrity interviewees. For example, Bush famously brought pizza backstage to the models (including Heidi Klum) at a Victoria's Secret fashion show; he presented Colin Farrell with a post-menopausal stripper for his birthday at the premiere of Phone Booth; he asked Penelope Cruz if she was able to spell her boyfriend Matthew McConaughey's last name (she could not); he asked Jennifer Lopez how she really feels about her butt; he asked Britney Spears whether Madonna or Colin Farrell was a better kisser; and he disguised himself as "Richard Broom" and faced Donald Trump at an audition for The Apprentice.

However, his attitude has sometimes backfired. For example, he was criticized for beginning a live interview of Naomi Watts at the Academy Awards with "Watts up?" (the host Billy Crystal called him "the most annoying man in show business.")

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Career highlights

Bush hosted the radio morning show, Billy Bush and the Bush League Morning Show, on WWZZ-FM (Z104) in Washington, DC until 2001.

Bush's "big gets" have sometimes been overlooked. Bush landed the first interview with Britney Spears' first husband, Jason Allen Alexander in Kentwood, Louisiana after bringing a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich to his home as a gift. In March of 2005, Jennifer Aniston granted Bush her very first television interview after the breakup of her marriage to Brad Pitt at the Show West Awards in Las Vegas.

In May 2005, Bush was the first journalist to interview Tom Cruise as he promoted War of the Worlds. It was during that interview that Cruise first attacked Brooke Shields for her use of antidepressants to combat postpartum depression, setting off a firestorm of controversy.

As part of his Access Hollywood work, Bush was sent to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece to do entertainment features.

More recently, Bush concluded his third appearance as co-host of the Miss Universe 2005 pageant in Bangkok, Thailand. He previously co-hosted the pageant in 2003 and 2004 alongside Daisy Fuentes and fellow Access Hollywood co-anchor Nancy O'Dell, respectively. He also hosted the Miss USA pageant in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Arguably, a low point in Bush's career occurred when Bush was one of the hosts of NBC’s 2006 Emmy Red Carpet Special. At one point during the show, Bush interviewed actor Jeremy Piven and began asking Piven questions about celebrity babies. Bush started the line of questions by asking Piven if he’d seen Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck's baby Violet. Piven, appearing visibly surprised at the questions replied “I have not seen the baby.” When Bush followed up with a question about whether Piven had seen Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby Shiloh Nouvel in Piven's Malibu, California neighborhood, Piven replied, "No ... I have 116 other things to do. ... I don't go hunting for celebrity babies, thank you, Billy." Bush was undeterred in his line of questions and then asked Piven whether he’d seen Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' daughter Suri. At that point, Piven snapped, "You need another job. You have potential as a human being. This may not be right for you. Seriously -- can you focus on other things?" The interview continued, with Bush asking Piven a question relating to how the character Piven plays on his television show Entourage would have reacted in a given situation. Piven was again incredulous, explaining that Bush was asking for the opinion of a character that Piven played on television, and asking why Bush wouldn’t ask a question relating to Piven’s attendance at the Emmy Awards. Later on his official Access Hollywood blog, Bush described the incident as a "funny, sarcastic and a jab between friends" and downplayed any real tension between him and Piven. Bush stated in his blog that he's surprised that anyone would take the conversation seriously, indicating that he'd deliberately picked the line of questioning in an attempt to take own jab at his friend Piven. Bush remarked: "[b]abies are not his favorite topic. We are friends and I knew he'd hate it. In a man's world, that's expressing affection."

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Personal life

He is the son of Josephine and Jonathan Bush. Bush attended St. George's School in Rhode Island and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Government at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He was captain of the college's men's lacrosse team.

He now resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Sydney Davis, whom he married in April 1998, and their three daughters, Josephine, Mary Bradley, and Lillie.

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Trivia

Bush is a first cousin of President, George W. Bush and the nephew of former President George H. W. Bush. In the summer of 2004, NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien parodied Michael Moore's controversial Fahrenheit 9/11 by doing a short skit on Billy Bush. Moore himself appeared in it, saying, "I went after the wrong Bush." Despite Bush's family name, he has remained completely nonpartisan publicly, although he donated a small sum to his cousin's presidential campaign in 2000. Like many members of the Bush family, Billy Bush has an unabashed fondness for fart jokes, and has said fondly of the President, "George was a great one for whoopee cushions when he was a drinking man and a cutup, but I'd be surprised if he was into that sort of thing anymore."^[1]