Matt Lauer ‘Reached Out’ To Billy Bush When He Was Fired From ‘Today’ And Asked For Self-Help Book Titles

Does Matt Lauer want to become a better man? After Lauer was ceremoniously fired from Today for “inappropriate sexual misconduct,” he went to another former disgraced NBC colleague, Billy Bush, for some self-help advice.

Speaking to People magazine, former disgraced Lauer colleague, Billy Bush, revealed that Matt Lauer “recently” texted Bush requesting a laundry list of the self-help books that have helped Bush get through over a year of difficulties including the loss of his job at NBC, as well as the separation from his wife Sydney, after nearly 20 years together.

“He texted me and asked about some of the self-help books I’ve been reading. I told him, ‘Start here.’ “

Bush didn’t reveal the titles that he gave to Lauer, who has most likely interviewed at least a thousand self-help authors over his 25 years at NBC News, especially on Today. Yet, Bush revealed that he has spent the “last year focused on self-reflection and a renewed dedication to his faith.” Perhaps he started there?

Billy Bush explained that his personal relationship with former Today anchor Matt Lauer was “complicated,” but Bush may best understand what Lauer is going through, watching career and personal life implode.

Two major events took the former Access Hollywood host down. Two months before Billy Bush’s 2016 firing, he had interviewed Ryan Lochte, the Olympic gold medal winning swimmer who “fabricated” a story that he and three other members of the U.S. Swim Team were robbed at gunpoint by fake policemen while they were in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Lochte animatedly told the story to Billy Bush on the Today Show, in Rio. NBC Sports is the longtime broadcaster of the Olympic Games, and Today has long enjoyed exclusive access to the Olympic athletes.

It turns out Lochte, the second most decorated American swimmer ever, had concocted this story along with his teammates. Billy Bush was lambasted for this interview and was “under fire” from the media, especially within NBC News, who felt that this was a huge “embarrassment to the network.” Apparently, the Ryan Lochte interview caused “tension” between Matt Lauer and Billy Bush, as Lauer felt that Bush was an “embarrassment.”

Two months later, when when the Washington Post revealed a 2005 off-camera Access Hollywood video. It was of then-Republican candidate Donald Trump speaking to a laughing Billy Bush. Trump spoke in startlingly vulgar terms about sexual assault and gave the example of wanting to score with women including Nancy O’Dell, Bush’s co-host at the time, this controversy sealed the deal and Bush was ceremoniously fired.

At the time Bush felt that he was not given the opportunity to go on Today and apologize for what he told Fox News was “bystander abuse.” Worse yet, he felt that Matt Lauer didn’t do much to help his cause.

“In one of my resolute moments, I said if I ever speak to him, I’m going to tell him that I was let down.”

A few months after Bush was fired, Lauer did call him and explained that he “fought” his cause “privately.” Yet, NBC officials didn’t budge from their decision to fire Bush.

"There is a term for what I did," Billy Bush said. "It’s called bystander abuse." https://t.co/2g0qRmQKue

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) January 25, 2018

Bush admits that at the time of his firing he would have relished the thought of someone else losing their job in a similar situation. Yet, he admits he now takes “no joy in the news” of Lauer’s firing.

As the father of three daughters, Bush has made it clear that he does not condone the sort of degrading things said in that old Access Hollywood tape revealed.

“I have three daughters. They are going to be in the workplace one day. I want them to be paid equally, I want them to be treated well and when they walk out of a room I don’t want to ever hear anyone talking behind their back in a degrading way.”

#PeopleFeatures is streaming NOW with Billy Bush! Tune in to hear his real thoughts on that #AccessHollywood tape https://t.co/EHsShx97Sb

— People (@people) January 24, 2018

Last week, the Inquisitr reported that Ann Curry, who appaeared on CBS This Morning, revealed issues regarding the atmosphere at NBC News. She explained that there “was a climate of verbal harassment that existed.”

Bush, whose uncle was President George H.W. Bush, and first cousin, President George W. Bush, is cousins with current Today correspondent Jenna Bush Hager.