Bush and Shields shared a close relationship
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Brooke Shields considered former President George H.W. Bush such a close "confidant" that she would ask him just about anything.
Shields, 59, admitted that she considered the late politician her substitute grandfather during an event to support the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy's New York Celebration of Reading event at the Lotos Club.
The actress and author, who will soon publish her new book, "Brooke Shields is Not Allowed to Get Old," even had a nickname for the 41st president of the United States.
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Brooke Shields had her own nickname for her "confidant," former President George H.W. Bush. (Getty Images)
"I call him Papa Bush. I was dating somebody [whose father] was an ambassador in Bermuda … He was my confidant about this boyfriend," she said, per Page Six.
Lauren Bush Lauren, Bush's granddaughter and host of the event, laughed as she recalled, "He loved some good gossip."
Shields dated Kelly Gaines in the early '90s. His father, Eb Gaines, was the head of the U.S. consulate in Bermuda under Bush. Shields once told Redbook in 1991 that Kelly was a better kisser than John F. Kennedy Jr.
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"When I kissed him I got a tingly feeling in my tummy that I didn’t when I kissed John Junior," she said.
Brooke Shields and then-President George H.W. Bush shook hands at the USO 50th anniversary TV special in 1991. (Dirck Halstead)
Now married to film director Chris Henchy, "Papa Bush" approved of her husband. She once received a call from Bush in 2010 while she was shooting a movie two hours away from the Bush family compound in Maine.
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"I pick up the phone — no introduction or nothing. ‘Rumor has it, you’re close to Kennebunkport’ if you do not come and visit me young lady, you’re in big trouble,'" Shields recalled. "I said, ‘OK sir, thank you. I’ll be there as soon as I can.’ I call my husband, and I’m like, ‘We’ve got to go to Kennebunkport.’
She added, "My husband arrives late, and I go, ‘You have to play golf.’ I think he played three times in his life. We get there, we get out and, of course, he’s playing with the sports commentator [Jim Nantz]. Papa Bush gave him his clubs carved with every country, carved with monuments."
Soon, Bush was asking for the gossip from Shields.
Former President George H.W. Bush would rely on Brooke Shields for juicy gossip through the years, according to the actress. (Dirck Halstead)
Brooke Shields considered Barbara and George Bush as her own grandparents. (Diana Walker)
"I hear, ‘You’re in this cart with me, young lady.’ He’s driving the cart," she said of Bush. "We’re driving around, and he’s like, ‘So, tell me how the relationship is. Good kids. I like the guy’ … My husband must have lost 40 pounds just from nerves."
The "Blue Lagoon" actress said that both George and Barbara Bush felt like "grandparents" to her.
"I don’t have really many relatives. He was that symbol to me. I looked up to her so much … Your grandparents for me were very important in my youth and in my life and in my dating days," Shields said.
Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to
