Mississippi-born chef Andre Rush stayed true to himself. Now he cooks for President Trump.

Andre Rush was known as “Horse” in middle school and high school.

“Because of how hard he ran the football, and because of how strong he was,” says state Rep. Kabir Karriem, one of Rush’s closest friends growing up in Columbus. “He was scrawny. But that boy was some kind of strong. Neckbone strong, I call it.”

Strong enough to bench press 315 pounds as a 150-pound senior. His teammates would stop their own workouts to watch.

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Now at 45, Rush, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 268, is still getting looks. His 24-inch biceps, pulpwood-sized forearms, 19-inch neck, and 36-inch waist turn heads wherever he goes.

But he’s not all show. Meet chef Andre Rush, who has prepared special-occasion dinners at the White House the past four administrations.

He became a social media sensation in June when two members of the press tweeted photos of him preparing a Ramadan meal for President Trump and 40 guests.

Since then, we’ve learned that Rush is a 23-year Army combat veteran who was wounded while on patrol in Iraq.

He was in the Pentagon when a hijacked airliner crashed into part of the building on 9/11, killing 125 civilians and military personnel.

Rush will star in a new TV show in 2019, “Chef in the City.” His autobiography is scheduled for release next year.

But here is what a lot of people don’t know: This chiseled veteran of war suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There were moments, more than he can put a number on, when he considered ending his life.

That is why his true passion is Mission 22, which helps illuminate the staggering statistic that an average of 22 U.S. veterans take their own lives every day. Rush does 2,222 pushups a day in their honor. He talks with veterans fighting it, and he speaks at schools to help educate students about it.

“What I’m trying to do is not about my biceps,” Rush says.

No, it’s about his heart.

'Whatever I did, I did it 100 percent'

One story about “Horse” is legendary among the home folks.

A wrestling coach from up north visited Columbus when Rush was in seventh grade. He was talking to students about the sport that is huge in other areas of the country. He wanted to give a demonstration and asked for volunteers.

“Horse!!!!!” the students yelled. “Get Horse up there!!!!”

“This wasn’t the kind of wrestling me and my friends had watched on television,” Rush says. “The man told me to get on my all fours and he was going to try and flip me over and pin me.

“Well, it didn’t go like he planned. He kept trying to flip me, but I wouldn’t budge. People started laughing. The guy is like, ‘What is happening here?’ It sort of got awkward. But I wasn’t giving in.”

Rush was the youngest of eight children. He became a standout running back at Lee High School and worked at Kmartyear-round. He would leave football practice and head to his job.

“There were a few of us who did that, trying to help our families the best we could,” Karriem says. “But I think it was even more so in Andre’s case because his family was so large.”

After graduating from high school, Rush joined the Army in 1993. He was assigned cooking duties.

“Whatever I did, I did it 100 percent,” he says. “That’s the way I’ve always been.”

Three years later, he was preparing meals at the Pentagon for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and that led to his gig at the White House.

But 9/11 changed him. He knew many of those who were killed in the Pentagon. It motivated him to sign up for combat duty.

When he returned and recovered from his wounds, Rush went back to being the happy-go-lucky chef that people loved.

“Yeah, I was the big, tough guy who had it all under control,” Rush says. “But down deep I knew I needed help.”

It took the insight of a general to sense Rush’s battle.

“He looked me in the eye at an event one day and said, ‘Andre, you’ve served your country diligently. But now it’s time to take care of yourself,’ ” Rush recalls. “I started crying right there in front of him.”

At his first counseling session, Rush talked and talked about what he had bottled up and masked. When he left the session, he walked with his head down. “And I never walk like that,” he says. “That’s not me.”

But just before exiting the building, a man ran up to him and extended his hand.

“I look at you and see you here,” the man said. “Now I know that I’m doing the right thing coming here, too.”

The man’s comment shook Rush to his core.

“It was an awakening for me,” he says. “I knew then that I could make a difference, maybe even help save lives. That’s what I’ve been trying to do ever since. And by helping others, it's also helping me survive."

'I knew God was speaking to me'

As Rush led preparations for the Ramadan meal in June outside the White House, CNN reporter Kate Bennett walked over to him.

“I’m going to make you famous,” Bennett said, snapping a photo of him in his white chef uniform, his name stitched above his heart, his muscles seemingly about to rip the threads.

“I’m already famous,” Rush joked.

“No, I mean really famous,” Bennett said.

Vivian Salama of the Wall Street Journal tweeted a picture, too.

Within a couple of hours, those photos had been seen and retweeted and commented on by thousands.

One tweet read: “If Chef Andre told me to eat my vegetables, I believe I would.”

Suddenly, Rush was swarmed with requests to bring awareness to countless causes. For now, he has settled on Mission 22, along with the USO, the American Legion, the VFW, the homeless and kids.

“I try to spread myself around as much as possible,” he says.

A businessman approached Rush soon after the Twitter explosion. He laid out a plan to create a Chef Andre Rush brand that offered the possibility of making him a wealthy celebrity.  

“I said no because this isn’t about money with me,” says Rush, an accomplished ice sculptor.. “You have to understand, I was raised by a God-fearing mother who always told me that things happen for a reason. And I knew God was speaking to me.

“It was about that time that Chef Anthony Bourdain took his life in France. I’d just returned from over there to see my sister, who is a colonel in the Air Force. I knew that was a sign to stick with Mission 22, to see my part through.

“You have to listen to what God’s saying to you.”

'You can do anything if you’re willing to work for it'

Photos will tell you that Rush is also passionate about working out.

“First thing I want people to know is, I don’t do steroids and I never have,” he says. “I’m from Mississippi. We do things by hard work.”

He has a stern workout program and fuels his body daily with protein shakes, turkey, two dozen boiled eggs and four roasted chickens.

“When he told me that,” Karriem says, “I just looked at him and said, ‘What did you just say? Four chickens?’

“That boy could always eat, but I’ve never heard of somebody eating like that.”

Rush, who retired from the military in 2016, was in Jackson about a month ago for the funeral of his aunt, Rose Guyton. He also went back home to Columbus where he visited with Karriem, spoke to school kids and did a cooking demonstration for the local TV station.

“I love home,” says Rush, a father of four. “I talk about Mississippi wherever I go, every chance I get.”

He learned to cook from his mother, as did his three brothers.

“My knowledge of cooking was homegrown,” Rush says. “When I got to the Army, a lot of guys had been to culinary school. They sort of looked down at me, wouldn’t share their secrets. That was fine. I just stayed true to myself, and it got me all the way to the White House.

“I use that as a lesson when speaking to kids. Doesn’t matter where you come from, you can do anything if you’re willing to work for it.”

All the presidents he’s worked for — Bush, Clinton, Obama and Trump — had different tastes. They all like chicken, but they also allow Rush to create.

“I did enjoy it when the Obamas had the vegetable garden right there at the White House. I could do a million different things with those vegetables,” he says.

Because he had watched and helped his mother do just that in Columbus.

“He’s never changed,” Karriem says. “He’s the same person he was when he left here. He hasn’t forgotten where he came from. He’s kept God at the front of his life. Mississippi should be proud of him, and I’m so happy people are finally learning about this guy.

“He’s worth all the publicity he gets.”

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Contact Billy Watkins at 769-257-3079 or bwatkins@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Chef Andre Rush, Mississippi native, cooks for Trump at White House