Johnny Carson relied for years and years on the silence of his personal lawyer, Henry Bushkin. Now Bushkin has published a memoir in which he spills all about Carson. The book is already readable on Amazon.com although set up yet for Kindle. Bushkin says he, Carson, and a private eye went into Joanne Carson’s NY apartment– she was Johnny’s second wife–to find out who she was sleeping with. It turned out to be Frank Gifford.
Carson sobbed. Carson, Bushkin says, carried a .38 pistol on his hip in a holster. Here’s Johneeeeee…..” I realized,” Bushkin writes, “that I was probably one of the very few people who ever saw Johnny Carson cry.”
“Joanne has broken my heart,” Carson told Bushkin, “to the extent I ever had one.”
Bushkin says Carson wondered what Gifford had that he didn’t. “Gifford plays three positions on the field,” he said. “I could only get Joanne to go for one or two,” Carson joked. “I think I’ll use that in tomorrow’s monologue.”
