Talking for the first time about her husband’s drinking habits, former US First Lady Laura Bush has said that President George W. Bush was a “bore” when he had too much.
Former US President Bush, who was in the White House from 2001 to 2009, has always denied he was an alcoholic, but he gave up drinking when he turned 40 and didn’t drink during his tenure. He was arrested for drink driving in 1976. But, in an interview to a magazine about her life with President Bush, Laura said his love of alcohol left her “disappointed”, although she denied ever giving him an ultimatum about his drinking, the Daily Telegraph reported. Laura said: “George drank the three B’s, a bourbon before dinner, a beer with dinner and then B&B (a mixture of Brandy and Benedictine liquor), a sweet after dinner drink.”
“He didn’t had three drinks every night, many times all he had was a beer. But when he poured enough, he could be a bore. May be it’s funny when other people’s husbands have too much to drink at a party, but I didn’t think it was funny.”
Claiming that she did not threaten to end their marriage over her husband’s drinking, Laura told Ladies Home Journal: “I never said the line, ‘It’s either Jim Beam or me’. That joke came much later. I was not going to leave George, and I wasn’t going to let him leave me with twins.
“Our marriage was enduring, we loved each other, and were two people who did not have divorce in our DNA. But I was disappointed. And I let him know that I thought he could be a better man.”