Inside the White House's Secret Parties: Huge TV Star Reveals 'Drug Use, Jimmy Carter's Wild Ways and Gambling With Bush'
Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush took some time to party and gamble with Don Johnson.
June 5 2025, Published 2:45 p.m. ET
Plenty occurs at the White House that goes beyond politics: there are also big parties, drugs, and even gambling, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
On Wednesday, June 4, Miami Vice alum Don Johnson gave viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the White House, and even dropped some wild stories about late presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush.
Smoking At The White House?
Don Johnson dropped plenty of secrets about what goes on at the White House.
Johnson appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, as the host presented the actor with a photo of himself with Carter, Chuck Leavell, and Dickey Betts at an Allman Brothers concert in 1975.
"I don't remember that photo, but we were all stoned," Johnson, 75, said about the picture, which seemed to show Betts smoking.
However, Johnson was quick to make clear that Carter was not partaking in any drug activities.
"Well, I don't know about (Carter). I don't want to cast any aspersions on the former president. God rest his soul," he explained. Carter died on December 29, 2024.
While Carter may not have smoked, he still had a good time. According to Johnson, after working with the Allman Brothers on a concert during his 1976 presidential campaign, Carter invited them to the White House and "then the fun began."
After Kimmel joked "nobody has fun (at the White House)," he then thought twice, and added: "I have heard Willie Nelson had fun there," referencing the fact that the country singer smoked marijuana with Carter's son on the roof of the building in the '70s, which Carter confirmed in the documentary, Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President.
"Is that the kind of fun you had there?" Kimmel asked Johnson. "Did you smoke at the White House?"
Taking $20 From Bush
Johnson could not confirm if Carter ever smoked while in the White House.
Johnson responded: "I don't know how to answer this. Well, yes ... I guess I did," which led to thunderous applause from the audience.
The Rebel Ridge actor also dropped another shocker: Bush was all about gambling.
"He wanted to gamble when we played golf out at Camp David. And so I took his money," Johnson recalled. "I'll tell you something else: He's a trash talker, and he ran into a buzzsaw because so am I."
The 'Miami Vice' actor did claim he took about $20 from Bush after golfing with the former president.
While Johnson only won "eighteen or twenty bucks," it was "the best 18 or 20 bucks you'll ever get."
Bush died on November 30, 2018, at the age of 94.
Johnson may have been partying it up with politicians and presidents, but not everyone was having a good time with him, especially Barbra Streisand.
The famous stars had a fling back in the 80s, but it didn't exactly end well.
Carter invited Johnson to party at the White House during his presidency.
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According to Streisand, their relationship lacked "honesty and communication," and he became distant after they recorded their duet, Till I Loved You.
Things fell apart even more when Streisand called Johnson on his phone, and his ex-wife, Melanie Griffith, answered.
"At that point, she was in rehab, and Don had conquered his own drug habit and was trying to help," she wrote in her memoir. "I had no problem with him talking to her, but I did have a problem with him not having the courtesy to tell me the truth about their current relationship."
Johnson and Griffith remarried in 1989, before their second split in 1996.
Streisand wrote: "Thirty years later, I'll sometimes run into Don at a party. We hug, and he always whispers in my ear, 'I love you.' I don't say it back."
