{"id":66931,"date":"2020-10-07T01:21:28","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T01:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=66931"},"modified":"2020-10-07T01:21:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T01:21:28","slug":"billy-bush-felt-betrayed-matt-lauer-drank-heavily-today-firing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=66931","title":{"rendered":"Billy Bush felt betrayed by Matt Lauer, drank heavily after \u2018Today\u2019 firing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billy Bush felt betrayed by Matt Lauer when Bush\u00a0was fired by NBC\u00a0in 2016 \u2014 after which he spent months drinking heavily, too \u201cparalyzed\u201d to get off his couch and unable to stop crying.<\/p>\n

In a candid interview with Men\u2019s Health, Bush, 48, recalls being axed from the \u201cToday\u201d show after just two months on the job for his role in the infamous \u201cAccess Hollywood\u201d outtake with Donald Trump from 11 years earlier.<\/p>\n

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After the tape circulated, Bush was ready to apologize on-air and believed he had Lauer\u2019s support. Bush now says of his then-co-anchor, \u201cThat he didn\u2019t fight for me is so deeply hurtful because I\u2019ve known him for absolutely ever.\u201d (Men\u2019s Health reports that Lauer didn\u2019t comment.)<\/p>\n

Bush instead learned he was canned when he tried to get a car to the airport before flying back to New York. The driver who was meant to take him said, \u201cSorry, Mr. Bush. They just canceled the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having recently separated from his wife, Bush holed up alone in an apartment drinking too much whiskey, the piece reports.<\/p>\n

Four months into the situation, he said he told his brother, \u201cI\u2019m paralyzed. I can\u2019t get off my couch. I can\u2019t stop crying. I can\u2019t stop thinking terrible thoughts of what I would want to do to myself if I didn\u2019t have children \u2026 Help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

He then went for a weeklong treatment called the Hoffman Process.<\/p>\n

Since returning to \u201cExtra\u201d last year, Bush says he looks back at himself in the tape and sees a \u201clittle suck-up cog,\u201d \u201clittle suck-up Billy Bush,\u201d \u201cthe fluffer.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he admits he wouldn\u2019t do it again differently: \u201cI\u2019m not going to give [you] a pandering answer. I\u2019m sorry. I can\u2019t,\u201d he told writer Anna Peele.<\/p>\n

The Bush scion \u2014 who says that before his NBC firing, \u201cnothing bad ever happened to me\u201d \u2014 now realizes that \u201clife isn\u2019t fair,\u201d and that getting canned \u201cwas important for my development \u2026 I needed to have my ass handed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2017, he even had dinner with Lauer, who\u00a0was booted from NBC\u00a0that year.<\/p>\n

Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n