Despite the many perks of living in the White House, Jenna Bush Hager had no interest in being part of the "first family" when she was 16.
On Tuesday, September 3, 2024, the 42-year-old host confessed to stand-in co-host Sheinelle Jones that she and her sister Laura "burst into tears" when her father, George W. Bush, told them that he wanted to run for president. As the Today with Jenna and Hoda host prepared to welcome Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, she compared her own story to one that the judge, 53, wrote about her own children in her memoir.
"When she was on President Obama's short list to become a possible Supreme Court judge, she and her husband sat their daughters down, she has two girls, and said, 'Now listen, this is going to change your life and I want to make sure it's okay with you.' And they said, 'Yes, mom this has been your dream, we believe in you.'" Bush Hager revealed to Jones that she couldn't help but compare her and Barbara's reaction with that of Justice Brown Jackson's children.
"Unfortunately when I was 16, my father sat my sister and I down and said, "Now, listen, we really want your support. I'd like to run for President."' Not only did the Bush twins accuse their father of "ruining" their lives, they also disparaged his ability to win the election at all. "We said, "And even if you run, you are going to lose,"' she told viewers, and then remarked that the Bush/Gore election indeed "came close" to ending in a Gore victory. Bush Hager called her reaction "horrible" and revealed that as an adult, she and her sister "apologized publicly" to their dad.
Being in the spotlight as First Daughters was not easy for the Bush twins, who both were the recipients of public backlash for drinking alcohol while away at college. In 2022, she said on Today that her dad apologized to her because she wasn't able to behave like a "normal" college student.
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