Billy Bush‘s rough patch isn’t over.
After nearly 20 years of marriage, former NBC “TODAY” Show host and his wife, Sydney Davis, are on a “short-term break.” His lawyer confirmed the news.
“I can confirm they are now separated, and on a short-term break,” Marshall Grossman told NYP‘s “Page Six,” which first broke the news.
A source tells the gossip column that Davis is “10,000 percent out of there” and that she’s still disturbed about Bush’s involvement in the Access Hollywood “grab ’em by the pussy” nightmare that blew up during the 2016 presidential campaign cycle. Bush was overheard egging on then candidate Donald Trump and laughing about him saying he could do whatever he wanted with women. “You can do anything,” Trump told him, citing his bottomless prowess of fame.
While anonymous sources say the marriage is caput, Bush’s lawyer and his rep say they are just on a “short” break.
In 2016, NBC suspended and then fired Bush in the wake of the Access Hollywood video, which at that point was 11-years-old.
Bush and Davis have three daughters — Josie, Mary and Lillie.
His uncle is former President George H. Bush.
Back in May, Bush went on a media redemption tour.
ABC’s GMA co-host Robin Roberts interviewed him for his first TV interview since his firing.
“I recoiled,” Bush told Roberts of watching the tape. “…I remember the guy on the other side and I can tell you 12 years ago, I was insecure, I was a pleaser. I kind of remember wanting these celebrities to like me so I could continue in this job.”
He says he wished he had the “strength of character” at the time to not behave the way he did.
At the time, Roberts told her co-hosts that she felt there was a “genuineness” to Bush’s regret.
The Hollywood Reporter also gave him a chance to repent. Which he did in May when he explained that he went to a pricey $5,000 a week emotional rehab Napa Valley for an aggressively introspective retreat. He also took up yoga and walked over hot coals with horse-toothed motivational guru Tony Robbins.
In June, Bush was back in the tabloids when his 18-year-old daughter Josie reached 29 months of sobriety.
“It’s the hero’s journey my love,” Bush wrote his daughter. “Very proud of you and that awesome fact.”
In July, the Daily Mail falsely reported that Bush had landed a new gig hosting a magazine show called “Top 30” with Fox TV. The concept of the program is that he would tell 30 stories in 30 minutes. A source close to Bush said he found the whole thing — the report and the show — ridiculous.
Unfortunately for Bush, it also wasn’t true.