Monday, June 22, 2026

Johnny Carson’s Lawyer Spills All in New Book– Including that Carson Carried a .38 and Frank Gifford Had An Affair with His Second Wife

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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.”

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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