# Jenna Bush Hager

Jenna Welch Bush Hager (née Bush; born November 25, 1981) is an American news personality, author, and journalist. She is the host of Today with Jenna & Friends, the fourth hour of NBC's morning news program, Today. Hager and her fraternal twin sister, Barbara, are the daughters of the 43rd U.S. President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush. Hager is also a granddaughter of the 41st U.S. President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush, great-granddaughter of former U.S. Senator Prescott Bush, niece of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and first cousin of former Land Commissioner of Texas George P. Bush.
After her father's presidency ended, Hager became an author, an editor-at-large for Southern Living magazine, and a television personality on NBC, being featured, most prominently, as a member of The Today Show as a correspondent, contributor and co-host.

## Early life and education

Jenna Welch Bush was born on November 25, 1981, at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Jenna Hawkins Welch. While living in Dallas, Jenna and her sister Barbara attended first Preston Hollow Elementary School and then The Hockaday School. In 1994, after her father was elected Governor of Texas and the family moved to Austin, Texas, Bush was a student at St. Andrew's Episcopal School and attended Austin High School from 1996 until her graduation in 2000. She was a Senate page.
As her father became President in 2001, she attended the University of Texas at Austin and took summer classes at New York University. She was a legacy member of Kappa Alpha Theta, her mother's sorority. While there, Jenna and her sister Barbara made national headlines when they were both arrested for alcohol-related charges, twice within five weeks. On April 29, 2001, Jenna was charged with a misdemeanor for possession of alcohol under the age of 21 in Austin. On May 29, 2001, Jenna was charged with another misdemeanor — attempting to use a fake ID (with the name "Barbara Pierce," her paternal grandmother's maiden name) to purchase alcohol. She pleaded no contest to both charges. Jenna Bush graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English, in 2004.

## 2004 U.S. presidential election

Jenna and Barbara asked their father not to run for President of the United States in 2000: "Oh, I just wish you wouldn't run. It's going to change our life." Her father told them that he and her mother needed to live their lives. In the winter of 2003, she and Barbara opted to become involved in the 2004 campaign. In response to this decision, she made media appearances during the summer of 2004, prior to the election. She and her sister made several joint public appearances, including giving a speech to the Republican Convention on August 31, 2004. She made headlines when she was found sticking her tongue out to media photographers at a campaign stop in St. Louis. Jenna and Barbara took turns traveling to swing states with their father, and they also gave a seven page interview and photo shoot in Vogue. Jenna later confirmed that Barbara and Jenna also developed a friendship with John Kerry's daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa, who campaigned on behalf of their father.

## Career
### Teaching

Before leaving Washington, D.C. in summer 2006, Hager worked at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School for a year and a half as a teacher's aide. She took a leave of absence from the charter school position to work at a shelter as part of an internship for UNICEF's Educational Policy Department in Latin America, specifically Panama. After her internship for UNICEF, Hager returned to her position at the charter school in Washington, D.C. She has done work as a part-time reading coordinator at the SEED Public Charter School in Baltimore, Maryland, and she has contributed a monthly news story about education for the Today show.

### Writing

In 2007, Hager began marketing a book proposal with the assistance of Robert B. Barnett, a Washington attorney. The title of the book is Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope, and it chronicles her experiences working with UNICEF sponsored charities in Latin America, including visits to drought-stricken Paraguay in 2006, while working as an intern for United Nations Children's Fund. HarperCollins announced in March 2007 it would publish the book, and it was released September 28, 2007, with an initial printing of 500,000 copies. Her share of the profits will go to UNICEF, while the remainder will go to the woman whose life is the basis of the book, assisting in the young woman's continuing education. During the book tour, Hager appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. During the interview, Hager telephoned her parents. Hager wrote a second book, in conjunction with her mother, designed to encourage children to read. The book, entitled Read All About It!, was published on April 22, 2008, also by HarperCollins.
On November 26, 2012, Hager was named editor-at-large of Southern Living magazine.

### NBC News (2009–present)

Since 2009, Jenna Bush has worked at NBC News as a correspondent and at Today as both a contributor and an anchor. In August 2009, NBC hired Hager as a correspondent and contributor for The Today Show.
As time progressed, Hager's profile increased on Today, including filling in as the orange room anchor during the 7AM-9AM hours and substituting for Kathie Lee Gifford or Hoda Kotb during the fourth hour.
In 2018, she interviewed Michelle Obama in a discussion about her life in the White House, the challenges of raising her daughters in the spotlight, and her book, Becoming. They also discussed the political atmosphere and political bipartisanship, with Obama stating that, despite their political differences, Hager's father, George W. Bush, is a "beautiful, funny, kind, sweet man".
In March 2019, Hager started Read with Jenna, a monthly book club on Today Show. In April 2019, Hager began co-anchoring the fourth hour of Today with Hoda Kotb following Kathie Lee Gifford's departure.
In 2019, Hager was able to participate with Willie Geist in a special episode of How Low Will You Go, which aired on the Today Show.
In 2021, Hager reacted emotionally to the storming of the United States Capitol, stating live on air:
   I have had the privilege of standing on those steps for several inaugurations, not just for family members but for the first black president of the United States of America. I kissed my grandfather goodbye in that rotunda. I have felt the majesty of our country in those walls, and nobody can take that from any of us.
In February 2022, Hager signed a first-look deal with Universal Studio Group.
On a November 2022 episode of Today with Hoda and Jenna, Hager confessed that she "never wears underwear". Later that month, she appeared on Watch What Happens Live and told host Andy Cohen that she did not wear underwear during a dinner she had with King Charles, then Prince Charles, the night before Queen Elizabeth II died.
In February 2023, she announced her third book, Love Comes First, and sources reported "Jenna's Top Picks" and other endorsement deals.

### Sports investment

In February 2021, The Washington Post reported that Chelsea Clinton, Hager, Dominique Dawes, and Briana Scurry were part of an investment group, investing in the Washington Spirit professional soccer club in the National Women's Soccer League.

### Book Club Picks

In March 2019 on the Today Show, Hager introduced her book club Read with Jenna.
| Featured Month | Book Title | Author |
| $_{February2025}$ | This is a Love Story | Jessica Soffer |
| January 2025 | The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus | Emma Knight |
| December 2024 | Devotions | Mary Oliver |
| November 2024 | This Motherless Land | Nikki May |
| October 2024 | The Mighty Red | Louise Erdrich |
| September 2024 | Blue Sisters | Coco Mellors |
| August 2024 | The Wedding People | Alison Espach |
| July 2024 | All the Colors of the Dark | Chris Whitaker |
| June 2024 | Swift River | Essie Chambers |
| May 2024 | Real Americans | Rachel Khong |
| April 2024 | Husbands | Holly Gramazio |
| March 2024 | The House on Mango Street | Sandra Cisneros |
| March 2024 | The Great Divide | Cristina Henriquez |
| February 2024 | Good Material | Dolly Alderton |
| January 2024 | The Waters | Bonnie Jo Campbell |
| December 2023 | We Must Not Think of Ourselves | Lauren Grodstein |
| November 2023 | The Sun Sets in Singapore | Kehinde Fadipe |
| October 2023 | How to Say Babylon | Safiya Sinclair |
| September 2023 | Amazing Grace Adams | Fran Littlewood |
| August 2023 | Summer Sisters | Judy Blume |
| July 2023 | Banyan Moon | Thai Thao |
| June 2023 | The Celebrants | Steven Rowley |
| May 2023 | Chain-Gang All-Stars | Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah |
| April 2023 | Camp Zero | Michelle Min Sterling |
| March 2023 | Black Candle Women | Diane Marie Brown |
| February 2023 | Maame | Jessica George |
| January 2023 | Sam | Allegra Goodman |
| December 2022 | The Secret History | Donna Tartt |
| November 2022 | The Cloisters | Katy Hays |
| October 2022 | The Whalebone Theatre | Joanna Quinn |
| September 2022 | Solito | Javier Zamora |
| August 2022 | The Many Daughters of Afong | Jamie Ford |
| July 2022 | The Measure | Nikki Erlick |
| June 2022 | These Impossible Things | Salma El-Wardany |
| May 2022 | Remarkably Bright Creatures | Shelby Van Pelt |
| April 2022 | Memphis | Tara M. Stringfellow |
| March 2022 | Groundskeeping | Lee Cole |
| February 2022 | Black Cake | Charmaine Wilkerson |
| January 2022 | The School for Good Mothers | Jessamine Chan |
| December 2021 | Bright Burning Things | Lisa Harding |
| November 2021 | The Family | Naomi Krupitsky |
| October 2021 | The Lincoln Highway | Amor Towles |
| September 2021 | Beautiful Country | Qian Julie Wang |
| August 2021 | The Turnout | Megan Abbott |
| July 2021 | Hell of a Book | Jason Mott |
| June 2021 | Malibu Rising | Taylor Jenkins Reid |
| May 2021 | Great Circle | Maggie Shipstead |
| April 2021 | Good Company | Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney |
| March 2021 | What's Mine and Yours | Naima Coster |
| February 2021 | Send for Me | Lauren Fox |
| February 2021 | The Four Winds | Kristin Hannah |
| January 2021 | Black Buck | Mateo Askaripour |
| December 2020 | The Bluest Eye | Toni Morrison |
| November 2020 | White Ivy | Susie Yang |
| October 2020 | Leave the World Behind | Rumaan Alam |
| September 2020 | Transcendent Kingdom | Yaa Gyasi |
| August 2020 | Here For It | R. Eric Thomas |
| August 2020 | The Comeback | Ella Berman |
| July 2020 | Friends and Strangers | J. Courtney Sullivan |
| June 2020 | A Burning | Megha Majumdar |
| May 2020 | All Adults Here | Emma Straub |
| April 2020 | Valentine | Elizabeth Wetmore |
| March 2020 | Writers & Lovers | Lily King |
| February 2020 | The Girl With the Louding Voice | Abi Daré |
| January 2020 | Dear Edward | Ann Napolitano |
| December 2019 | Late Migrations | Margaret Renkl |
| November 2019 | Nothing to See Here | Kevin Wilson |
| October 2019 | The Dutch House | Ann Patchett |
| September 2019 | The Dearly Beloved | Cara Wall |
| August 2019 | Patsy | Nicole Dennis-Benn |
| July 2019 | Evvie Drake Starts Over | Linda Holmes |
| June 2019 | Searching for Sylvie Lee | Jean Kwok |
| May 2019 | A Woman Is No Man | Etaf Rum |
| April 2019 | The Unwinding of the Miracle | Julie Yip-Williams |
| March 2019 | The Last Romantics | Tara Conklin |
In 2022, Hager expanded her book list to children's reading, called Read with Jenna Jr.
In September 2023, Hager introduced the podcast she hosts, "Open Book with Jenna," wherein she interviews authors.

## Personal life

Bush met Henry Chase Hager during the 2004 presidential campaign. They became engaged in August 2007. Before proposing, Hager asked President Bush for permission to marry his daughter. Their relationship became public when the two appeared together at a White House dinner for The Prince of Wales and his new wife The Duchess of Cornwall (now King Charles III and Queen Camilla) in November 2005. Henry Hager attended St. Christopher's School, in Richmond, Virginia, and he holds an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. He worked as a U.S. Department of Commerce aide, for Carlos Gutierrez, and as a White House aide, for Karl Rove. He is the son of former Virginia Republican Party Chairman John H. Hager, who previously served as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and as the U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary, under George W. Bush. The wedding took place during a private ceremony, on May 10, 2008, at her parents' Prairie Chapel Ranch, near Crawford, Texas. Henry and Jenna Hager have three children.
Unlike most of her relatives (but like her twin sister, Barbara), Hager is not a member of the Republican Party. While registering to vote in New York, she mistakenly registered with the Independence Party of New York while meaning to declare herself a nonpartisan. In 2010, Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush told People that they preferred not to identify with any political party, stating, "We're both very independent thinkers."
Hager serves on the board of the Greenwich International Film Festival.

## Publications

* Bush, Jenna (2007). Ana's Story : A Journey of Hope. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-137908-6.
* Bush, Laura; Bush, Jenna (2008). Read All About It!. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780061560774.
* Bush, Laura; Bush, Jenna (2016). Our Great Big Backyard. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062468369.
* Bush, Barbara Pierce; Bush Hager, Jenna (2017). Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life. New York: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9781538711415. OCLC 972386724.
* Bush, Jenna (2020). Everything Beautiful in Its Time: Seasons of Love and Loss. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0062960627.