WASHINGTON (AP) — A television actress has accused former President George H.W. Bush of touching her from behind while she was posing for a photo alongside him and telling her a dirty joke.
People magazine reports Heather Lind said in a now-deleted Instagram post that the incident took place while she was posing for a photo with Bush during a promotional tour for her AMC series “TURN: Washington’s Spies.” Lind appears alongside the 93-year-old Bush, who’s seated in a wheelchair, in a photo together at a Houston screening of the series in 2014.
Lind posted a photo to Instagram of the former president shaking hands with other former U.S. presidents at a concert Bush's presidential foundation hosted in College Station, Texas, on Saturday to raise money for hurricane relief and described her own experience with the elder Bush.
“I found it disturbing because I recognize the respect ex-presidents are given for having served. And I feel pride and reverence toward many of the men in the photo. But when I got the chance to meet George H. W. Bush four years ago to promote a historical television show I was working on, he sexually assaulted me while I was posing for a similar photo," wrote Lind in a since-deleted Instagram post.
“He didn’t shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke. And then, all the while being photographed, touched me again. Barbara rolled her eyes as if to say ‘not again.’ His security guard told me I shouldn’t have stood next to him for the photo,” wrote Lind.
Bush spokesman Jim McGrath tells The Associated Press in a statement: “President Bush would never — under any circumstance — intentionally cause anyone distress, and he most sincerely apologizes if his attempt at humor offended Ms. Lind.”
The 93-year-old former president, who has a Parkinsons-like disease and other ailments, uses a wheelchair and has difficulty speaking.
