Donald Trump Plans to Rescue Ed McMahon out of Foreclosure

TV personality Ed McMahon might have a new landlord soon. Billionaire businessman Donald Trump announced Thursday that he wants to help McMahon's Beverly Hills mansion from foreclosure by buying it for an undisclosed amount and then leasing it back to him.

"There are discussions, but it is not a done deal yet. We are optimistic," McMahon's spokesman, Howard Bragman, told Reuters on Friday.

This Apprentice boss said that he immediately wanted to step in after he heard the news that McMahon defaulted on a $4.8 million mortgage for his six-bedroom, five-bathroom home.

"I don't know the man, but I grew up watching him on TV," Trump told the Los Angeles Times in a report published on Friday. "When I was at the Wharton School of Business, I'd watch him every night. How could this happen?"

McMahon, 85, is most famous for being Johnny Carson's sidekick on the Tonight Show for three decades. He blamed his financial problems on the fact that he hadn't been able to work for 18 months, due to a neck injury.

According to Reuters, this foreclosure is only one of McMahon's problems. They said that earlier this week, California-based Westmoore Lending sued McMahon and his wife, saying that they defaulted on a $250,000 loan. A New York lawyer sued him last month for $275,000, saying that McMahon didn't pay him after representing one of his daughters in "matrimonial matters."