Nancy O’Dell Forgives Billy Bush for That Trump Tape: ‘I Only Wish Him the Very Best’
Nancy O'Dell took a moment on Entertainment Tonight to address her former Access Hollywood co-host Billy Bush, who's on a public apology tour after staying out of sight since the release of a 2005 video in which Bush and Donald Trump lewdly discussed women, including O'Dell.
"Billy reached out to me just about three weeks ago by email," O'Dell told her audience. "He wrote a really nice apology, which I appreciated very much. And you know, he and I worked together for so many years, for a long time, so I only wish him the very best moving forward."
The infamous 2005 video emerged in October and features Bush and Trump, the latter of whom boasts about sexually assaulting women while Bush laugs. A particularly troubling part of the audio came when Trump says, "When you’re a star, [women] let you do it, you can do anything. Grab them by the p----, you can do anything.”
At the start of the recording, Trump and Bush discuss O'Dell, and how at one point, Trump had pursued a sexual relationship with her, but was rejected:
I moved on her, and I failed. I'll admit it. I did try and f--- her. She was married. ... I moved on her like a b----, but I couldn't get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her and she's got the big, phony t--- and everything. She's totally changed her look.
Warning: some NSFW audio
Soon after the video surfaced, O'Dell issued a statement: "Everyone deserves respect no matter the setting or gender. As a woman who has worked very hard to establish her career, and as a mom, I feel I must speak out with the hope that as a society we will always strive to be better."
While Trump somehow proceeded to be elected as United States President, Bush was fired for his involvement. Bush recently spoke publicly for the first time about the incident with The Hollywood Reporter and addressed how the incident affected his family, particularly his daughter, who asked him, "Why were you laughing at the things he was saying on that bus, Dad?"
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