Billy Bush facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Billy Bush
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Bush in 2006
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| Born |
William Hall Bush
October 13, 1971 Manhattan, New York, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Colby College |
| Occupation | Television presenter, radio personality |
| Spouse(s) |
Sydney Davis
(m. 1998; div. 2018) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Jonathan Bush Josephine Bush |
| Relatives | Bush family |
William Hall Bush (born October 13, 1971) is an American radio and television host. He is a member of the Bush family, a nephew of President George H. W. Bush and cousin of President George W. Bush and Florida governor Jeb Bush.
After appearing as a correspondent on Access Hollywood from 2001 to 2004, Bush became a primary anchor of the program in 2004. Bush also hosted The Billy Bush Show, a nationally syndicated talk and music radio show that aired from 2008 to 2014. He departed Access Hollywood in 2016 after being named a co-host in the third hour of Today. Since 2019, Bush has been the host of the syndicated newsmagazine TV show Extra, a year after the series moved from NBC to Fox.
Early life
Bush was born in Manhattan, New York, to Jonathan Bush, a banker, and Josephine Colwell Bush (née Bradley). He has one older brother, Jonathan S. Bush. William Bush's uncle (his father's older brother) was George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States. George W. Bush, the 43rd President, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush are William Bush's first cousins.
Bush attended middle school at St. Bernard's School in Manhattan and high school at St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in international studies and government from Colby College in 1994. He was also a four-year letterman and a two-time co-captain as a junior and senior with the Mules' men's lacrosse team. As of 2017, he is 4th (182), 8th (97), and 4th (85) in career points, goals and assists respectively in program history and was a first-team All-NESCAC in 1994.
Career
FM radio
Bush began his career hosting the afternoon drive show on WLKZ-FM in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, later moving to Washington, D.C., where he hosted the midday show on WARW-FM. In March 1997, Bush joined WWZZ-FM (Z104) in D.C. as host of Billy Bush and the Bush League Morning Show, which aired until January 2001.
Early television work
In January 2003, Bush hosted a short-lived NBC prime-time version of Let's Make a Deal. He was also a correspondent for WNBC-TV's Today in New York morning show.
Bush joined Access Hollywood, a daily entertainment news magazine, as East Coast correspondent in December 2001. He was promoted to co-anchor in June 2004.
While working at Access Hollywood, he was present at high-profile red carpet events including the Golden Globes, Grammys, and Academy Awards, and hosted ABC's live pre-show for the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Academy Awards and the 2006 Emmy Red Carpet Special.
Bush was a reporter for NBC at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and was the host for Access Hollywood's coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino as well as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In addition, Bush hosted the reality competition Grease: You're the One that I Want! on NBC in 2007, and stood in for Meredith Vieira for a week of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire shows on April 21–25, 2008. He and Vieira both had credited cameos as hosts of fictional game shows in the 2004 remake of Ira Levin's 1972 satirical thriller The Stepford Wives.
He returned to radio with The Billy Bush Show, a nightly talk radio and entertainment interview show. It airs from KBIG in Los Angeles and is syndicated by Westwood One. The show is written by Ryan Miller and produced by Corrin Barlow, while Bush and Access Hollywood executive producer Rob Silverstein are the show's executive producers. The show, which airs evenings Monday through Friday, focuses on the top entertainment stories and personalities in the news, and features celebrity guests and listener calls.
Bush co-hosted the Miss Universe pageant four times: in 2003 and 2004 with Daisy Fuentes; in 2005 with fellow Access Hollywood co-anchor Nancy O'Dell; and in 2009 with Claudia Jordan. He has also co-hosted the Miss USA pageant four times, with almost the same partners: in 2003 with Fuentes; 2004 and 2005 with O'Dell; and again in 2009, this time with Nadine Velazquez. After the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards of 2008 were cancelled as a result of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, Bush co-hosted the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards Announcement press conference with O'Dell on January 13, 2008.
Bush was named one of Esquire magazine's "10 Men" in July 2005. "He's a furious, inventive interviewer, unafraid of playing the fool in exchange for a true reaction", opined the writer of the accompanying magazine profile.
From September 13, 2010, to October 2016, Bush co-hosted the syndicated national daily entertainment talk show Access Hollywood Live, along with co-host Kit Hoover. This show is a sister show of Access Hollywood, with host chat of popular topics and celebrity live interviews. Bush and Hoover traveled together to the UK to cover Prince William's wedding to Catherine Middleton, as part of the NBC team coverage.
Bush played the drill sergeant in the 2010 film Furry Vengeance and had a small role as the voice of a newscaster in the 2014 Disney animated film Big Hero 6. He has also had several appearances on television shows including 30 Rock and Donny!.
Today
In May 2016, Bush was selected to be the co-host of the third hour of NBC's Today. He served as a replacement for Willie Geist.
Extra
On May 8, 2019, Telepictures announced they would hire Bush to be the host of Extra. Bush replaced Mario Lopez at the start of the 26th season on September 9, 2019, in a revamp of the show, which was originally to be renamed ExtraExtra. This came after Lopez departed Extra to host Access Hollywood, a show Bush previously hosted from 2001-2016.
Personal life
He married Sydney Davis in April 1998 and the couple have three daughters. On September 19, 2017, the couple announced they were separating. On July 15, 2018, Bush and his wife announced their divorce due to irreconcilable differences.
Through his mother, Bush is a descendant of Louis DuBois, who fled religious persecution in France and settled in what was then the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam; he helped found the town of New Paltz, New York. He is also a descendant of the Hasbrouck family and the Van Vleck family, making him a second cousin, three times removed of Nobel Physics Prize recipient John Hasbrouck Van Vleck.
