George Rush

The New York Daily News Gossip Columnist

George Rush grew up in Highland Park, Illinois, and later attended Brown University, where he majored in Semiotics. Rush continued his education at Columbia's School of Journalism where he received his graduate degree. He wrote articles for national publications including Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair, and also wrote a book about the U.S. Secret Service, focusing on the story of one renegade agent. Rush eventually moved to Los Angeles for a year to write a script for Warner Brothers based on the story.

In 1986, Rush started working two days a week for "Page Six" at The New York Post. After writing for "Page Six" off and on for three years, he met his wife, Joanna Molloy, who signed on to edit the Page with Frank DiGiacomo. Rush and Molloy had been hitting book parties and premieres for more than a year when he asked if they could call one of their evenings a date. Fortunately, Molloy had been thinking along the same lines and they became an item. They tried to keep it under wraps, but DiGiacomo caught onto them. The couple still kept things on the down low until 1992 when, overlooking the ocean in Salvador, Bahia, Rush proposed. The New York Observer later dubbed it the "Brazilian Engagement Shocker." They were married later that year. By that time, Molloy had moved from The New York Post to The New York Daily News as a general assignment reporter. There were some awkward moments. An ugly custody battle could erupt over a tip that Donald Trump was leaving his wife Marla. An early divorce was averted when Rush was offered his own gossip column at The New York Daily News. After working their separate beats, The New York Daily News editor Martin Dunn thought it would be cute in 1994 to marry them in the "Rush & Molloy" column. They have been doing it ever since.

Along the way, Princess Diana has ordered Rush to stop eavesdropping ("Move your ear over there!"), Gabriel Byrne has strangled him, and Brad Pitt has accused him of forcing him to move. The occasional bouquet of flowers sent to Rush from Julia Roberts and Sharon Stone has given him the strength to go on.