George W. Bush tells NBC's Matt Lauer his mom showed him a fetus; also talks alcoholism, Dick Cheney

George W. Bush is back in the spotlight two years after moving out of the White House, and the ex-President isn’t worried about what anyone thinks of him.

"Somebody walked up to me the other day and said, 'Congratulations.  Your popularity is way up since you left office," Bush told NBC's Matt Lauer, in his first one-on-one interview since leaving the Presidency. "And my answer was, 'So what?' Seriously. I mean if you chase popularity, you're chasing a moment. You're chasing a poof of air."

Not worried about winning fans, Bush opened up to Lauer about everything from the war in Iraq, to his battle with alcohol, to a surreal moment during his teenage years which shaped his views for life, in an interview that aired Monday night

"I didn't want to get back into what I call 'the swamp,'" the former President said of his decision to stay below the radar for so long. "I'm trying to regain a sense of anonymity."

But dive back into the swamp he did with the interview, kicking off a mega media tour to promote his new memoir "Decision Points."

The most startling anecdote he shared was the story of his mother's miscarriage during his teenage years, when he says he drove Barbara to the hospital while she held her unborn fetus in a jar.

Bush says he included the story "to show how my mom and I developed a relationship," but admits the jarring experience had a lifelong impact on his political beliefs.

"She says to her teenage kid, 'Here's a fetus,'" the pro-life President recounted to Lauer. "No question it - that affected me - my philosophy that we should respect life...There was a human life, a little brother or sister."

Bush also shared his personal struggle with alcohol, telling Lauer, "It became a love."

Though he was never "chemically addicted," he admits his desire to drink "began to compete for my love with my wife, and my daughters."

To illustrate what a "wiseass" drunk he once was, Bush shares the story of being so intoxicated at a family dinner, he turned to a friend of his parents' and asked, "What is sex like after 50?"

The situation was so awkward that Bush recalls his comment was met with "total silence…And not only silence, but like serious daggers."

Luckily the woman seemed to have a sense of humor. Bush says when he turned 50 himself, she sent him a note asking, "Well George, how is it?"

The ex-Pres's battle with drinking ended one day in 1986, when he realized, "I did not want to live a life where alcohol was central."

To this day he says he has a zero tolerance policy for himself, and never broke his sobriety even during the hard times of his Presidency. "I haven't had a sip of alcohol since 1986," he said.

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