Delco native pens tell-all book about the Bush family
From a two-room apartment in Odessa, Texas, sharing a hall bathroom with three reputed prostitutes, to the White House. This is part of the story of George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush as told by celebrity biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli in his latest book “Grace & Steel.” The book take readers through the lives of Dorothy, Barbara and Laura and the women of the Bush dynasty. But the Bush men come in for their share in this tell-all bio.
Taraborrelli, who grew up in Ridley Township and now lives in West Chester, has written 20 biographies, including those of such luminaries as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Beyonce, Princess Grace and Prince Rainier of Monaco, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Elizabeth Taylor and four books on the Kennedy family. Several of his books were made into television mini-series.
“I tried to break more ground,” Taraborrelli said when speaking about George H.W. Bush’s 18-yearlong affair with a staff member and how Barbara Bush managed to look the other way for so long.
He writes about how George H.W.’s father, Prescott, began the political dynasty when he was elected to the United States Senate in 1952. One president and two governors followed. There are many amusing stories about Dorothy Walker Bush, George H.W’s mother, who was a feminist decades before most people knew what that was. Also, the cloud that Laura Bush lived under for years after she ran a stop sign when she was a teenager, plowing into another car and killing a high school classmate, and the ultimatum she issued to her husband, George W., to stop drinking or she would leave him. And he did as she asked.
“Dorothy Bush would tell her daughter-in-law, Barbara, to have a voice in her marriage, urging her to speak up to her husband,” Taraborrelli said. “And I loved it that she wrote a newspaper column about life as a senator’s wife in Washington.
“The women in the Bush family had grace, but they all had backbones. They are all strong woman.”
Taraborrelli recounts the strained relationship that Barbara had with Nancy Reagan during the eight years that George H.W. served as Ronald Reagan’s vice president. Shortly after Bill Clinton was inaugurated as president, Barbara and Nancy had one last phone conversation in which Barbara told Nancy to stop talking about her publicly.
“And then Barbara said to Nancy, ‘Don’t ever call me again,’ and then she hung up on her,” the author said.
According to “Grace and Steel,” Barbara didn’t shy away from letting Laura and George W. know that she thought they were too permissive when it came to raising their twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, and she was not above trying to counteract Laura’s instruction to the White House staff when visiting her son and daughter-in-law during George W.’s two terms as president.
Taraborrelli said he tried to get Barbara Bush to allow him to write her biography when he first met her in 2000 but she told him she planned to write a memoir. But then he decided to write a book about the Bush family and in 2001 he finished the draft of that book, but then put it aside to concentrate on writing “Once Upon a Time,” the story of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier. Several other books later, he returned to the Bush family and this time included assorted in-laws and the impact each generation had on the previous one.
“Grace & Steel” depicts the privileged life-style of four generations that make up the Bush family, but also shows how close all family members were and continue to be.
Taraborrelli is a very successful college dropout. One year after his 1974 graduation from Ridley High School, he left Temple University for California to work for Diana Ross and the Supremes organization. When he was still in high school he organized the singing trio’s first fan club, taking over his mother’s sewing room for an office. His free lance writing while in California led to a job with Soul Magazine and before long he was editor of the music publication. His first best selling biography was “Call Her Miss Ross,” about the lead singer of the Supremes. Since that time more than half of his 20 biographies have made it to the New York Times bestseller list.
Taraborrelli has been featured on numerous news magazine shows and often serves as commentator on CNN and most recently, “Inside Edition.” One year ago, just as the pandemic hit, he moved back to the area after more than 40 years living in California.
“I wanted to be closer to my family,” he explained.
His brother, Rocky, and family live in New Jersey, and his sister, Roz, and her family reside in West Chester. And since he has had several of his books made into television series, he decided to try his hand at script writing.
“I’ve lived, as a writer, in isolation my whole life,” he said. “And I didn’t want the pandemic to go by and not do anything, so I learned how to write scripts. I’m doing scripts for television about Grace Kelly, which is called ‘Monaco,’ and ‘Grace & Steel,’ that will be called ‘American Women,’ and my book on Jackie Kennedy, Janet Auchincloss, Jackie and Lee Radziwll’s mother, is called ‘Money and Power.’ “