Billy Bush's daughter asked him exactly the right questions after the Trump tape

Bush opens up in his first television interview since the leak.
 By 
Nicole Gallucci
 on 
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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Billy Bush is opening up about that infamously career-ruining Trump tape, and much like the rest of America, his teenage daughter was devastated by the leak.

The former Access Hollywood star was fired in Oct. 2016 after Washington Post released controversial footage of him and Donald Trump from 2005 arriving to film a cameo on Days of Our Lives using obscene language to describe interactions with women.

In a Good Morning America interview set to air on Tuesday, Bush said his middle daughter was distraught by the tape, and it brought her to tears.

In describing what it was like to face his family after the tape was released, Bush can be seen telling told Good Morning America co-anchor, Robin Roberts, Bush said, "There was a powerful moment, my now 16-year-old daughter called me ... and she was in tears."

"She was really upset, and I said, 'Mary, it's, it's, going to be OK. You know, don't worry,'" he went on. "And she said, 'No. Why were you laughing at the things that he was saying on that bus? Why were you playing along with it, Dad? It wasn't funny.'"

In the original clip, Trump can be heard describing how he attempted to have sex with a married woman, believed to be presenter Nancy O'Dell, saying "I moved on her like a bitch."

Later, when chatting with Bush about the physical appearance of Days of Our Lives star Arianne Zucker, Trump said he ought to pop some Tic Tacs in case he started kissing her. "I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it ... Grab them by the pussy."

In response to his daughter's questions about "playing along with" Trump's offensive behavior, Bush said he apologized, telling her, "'Mary, I am sorry. And there is no good answer for that.'"

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Sunday, Bush said that looking back on the tapes, he wishes he had changed the topic. "I wish I had said: 'Does anyone want water?' or 'It looks like it's gonna rain.' ... I could've said, 'Can you believe the ratings on whatever?' I didn't have the strength of character to do it."

"I am not grateful for the moment," he went on, "But I'm grateful for what I've gotten out of it. I'm grateful that it hit me all the way to my core."

Following the tape's release, Bush made a statement acknowledging he was "embarrassed and ashamed."

Trump issued a video statement explaining the clip "doesn't reflect who I am," later referring to his comments as simply "locker room banter."

Bush's full interview will air on the May 23 episode of GMA.

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Nicole Gallucci

Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.

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