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http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2003... ....
The president, the painter, and porn: actor-painter Jeff Griggs presented a portrait to President Bush in the White House. Then the tabloids discovered his gay-porn past - People - Interview
The invitation was for Griggs to present the 9/11-themed George W. Bush portrait he had painted, which a friend of a friend had recommended to the White House. So he bought airline tickets for himself and his mom, checked his painting with the baggage, and went to meet the commander in chief.
Months later, the tabloids discovered that Griggs, a former Days of Our Lives cast member, had also done all-male adult films in the late 1980s. GAY PORN STAR PAINTS THE PRESIDENT INTO A CORNER, the headline shouted. The stow faded again until April of this year--when a gay gossip Web site and the New York Post dredged it up again. ....
Always a proud supporter of the president, Griggs says his conviction was strengthened by their meeting. "As we stood there and looked at my painting, as we were reminded of the loss," he says, "
I was convinced that he was completely aware of his own humanity and of his failings. But I was also aware that--damn it--he was the president of the United States and he was going to do his damnedest to see that this never happens to our country again." (Griggs can't say where the painting is now, but he's been told its final destination is likely Bush's presidential library.)
Griggs, who's gay and "not single," speaks with admiration of Bush's international AIDS initiative but doesn't feel the need to debate the Administration's policies point by point. "Bottom line is this: I'm sold on the man. Period. He's for us. It's hard not to like the guy."
As for whether Griggs's past "bad choices" really painted the president into a corner, his D.C. contacts tell him that "the White House isn't one bit concerned," he says. "Maybe I needed to have that experience to keep me humble and to remind me that I'm not that far from falling," he says of the gossip eruptions. "It reminds me how fortunate I am to be able to paint and have great friends and family. I am a blessed man."
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