Death, Loss & Ridicule! Inside Barbara Bush's Secret Life Of Heartbreak
Apr. 18 2018, Updated 12:21 a.m. ET
Barbara Bush passed away at the age of 92 on April 17, 2018 and RadarOnline.com has a gallery of her life in photos, revealing her secret heartbreak from her daughter’s death and her husband’s brutal election loss. “A former First Lady of the United States of America and relentless proponent of family literacy,” was how the family spokesperson described her upon her death. Click through to learn about the tragedies endured by President George H.W. Bush’s wife of 73 years.
In 1953 her three-year-old daughter, Pauline Robinson “Robin” Bush, was diagnosed with Leukemia. The doctor gave them devastating news. “’She said, ‘You don’t do anything. She’s going to die,’” the former First Lady told her granddaughter, Jenna Bush Hager, in an interview on The TODAY Show. “'She said, ‘My advice is take her home, love her. In about two weeks she’ll be gone.'” She described her daughter dying: “I was combing her hair and holding her hand. I saw that little body, I saw her spirit go.”
Barbara was devastated when her husband, the 41st President of the United States, was clobbered in the election by Bill Clinton, losing the job after serving one term following his eight years as Vice President under Ronald Reagan.
Bush proudly wore fake pearls and white hair while she was First Lady, and acknowledged her critics. "My mail tells me that a lot of fat, white-haired, wrinkled ladies are tickled pink," she said about her new job.
But Robin's death was what really put a dagger through Barbara's heart.
Even decades later, the little girl continued to be on the minds of the Bushes, even more so in recent years. “Robin to me is a joy. She’s like an angel to me, and she’s not a sadness or a sorrow,” Barbara said during an interview, remembering “those little fat arms around my neck."
Barbara also faced shame after six women came forward accusing her husband of sexual misconduct and groping their buttocks without consent.
Bush’s rep claimed that his alleged groping comes from his years of sitting in a wheelchair. “At age 93, President Bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five years, so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures. To try to put people at ease, the president routinely tells the same joke — and on occasion, he has patted women’s rears in what he intended to be a good-natured manner,” said spokesman Jim McGrath in a statement. We pay for juicy info! Do you have a story for RadarOnline.com? Email us at tips@radaronline.com, or call us at (866) ON-RADAR (667-2327) any time, day or night.