She started them young.
Sharon Bush realized early on that her three children, as members of the Bush dynasty, would live in the spotlight. They could look forward to a life of advantage and opportunity, but Sharon also saw risk.
“They were going to be surrounded in private schools by a lot of privileged children,” she says of Lauren, now 34; Pierce, 32; and Ashley, 29. “There would be talk about who has the latest Prada handbags. Kids getting brand-new BMWs for their 16th birthday. That’s not what I had in mind for my children and I didn’t want it to rub off on them. So I turned the spotlight around and had them helping others.”
The now ex-wife of Neil Bush, the third son of George Herbert Walker Bush and younger brother to George W. and Jeb, schlepped her kids to homeless shelters and soup kitchens, and to pitch in at her myriad charitable activities.
“Lauren won’t remember this, but I had her help me blow up helium balloons and tying them to wheelchairs in nursing homes when she was 3 years old,” Sharon recalls.
Photography Courtesy Of: