Jenna Bush Hager

Background

Jenna Hager’s full name is Jenna Welch Bush Hager, after her maternal grandmother. She was born November 25, 1981, in Dallas, Texas to former U.S. president George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush. She attended Preston Hollow Elementary school and the Hockday School with her twin sister Barbara. In 1994, she moved with her family to Austin, Texas after her father was elected Governor of the State. There she enrolled at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School and eventually she graduated from Austin High School in 2000. In 2001, George W. Bush became the forty-third U.S. president. In 2004, she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English.

Hager became involved in her father’s 2004 presidential campaign, making several media appearances with her sister. They delivered a speech to the Republican Convention in August 2004, were featured in a seven-page interview and photo shoot in Vogue, and took turns traveling to swing states with their father. In the summer of 2006, Hager started working as a teacher’s aide at the Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School. She retained this post for a year and a half, save for a brief break to work at a shelter in Latin America as part of an internship for UNICEF’s Educational Policy Department. In September 2007, she published a book titled “Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope”. The book documents her experience interning for the United Nations Children’s Fund at UNICEF-sponsored charities in Latin America. In April 2008, she published a second book, written with her mother, titled “Read All About It!” hoping to inspire children to read. Both books were published by HarperCollins. In August 2009, Hager was hired by the N.B.C. as a contributor and correspondent for the “Today Show”. With time her profile expanded, and she eventually began to substitute for the show’s main anchor during the 7 am to 9 am hours and the fourth hour. In November 2012, Hager became editor-at-large of Southern Living magazine. She published two more books, “Our Great Big Backyard” (2016) with her mother and “Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life” (2017) with her sister. In March 2019, she began a monthly book club on the “Today Show” titled Read with Jenna. As of April 2019, she has become co-anchor of the fourth hour of Today with Hoda Kotb. She is currently still working as a part-time reading coordinator at the SEED Public Charter School in Maryland, which helps her contribute a monthly news story for the “Today Show” about education. She published two more books titled “Everything Beautiful in Its Time: Seasons of Love and Loss” (2020) and “The Superpower of Sisterhood” (2022). Hager signed a deal with Universal Studio Group in February 2022.

Hager met her current husband Henry Chase Hager during her father’s 2004 presidential campaign. They got engaged in August 2007 and got married on May 10, 2008, at the Bush’s ranch near Crawford, Texas. The Hagers have three children, Mila, Poppy Louise, and Hal. Like her twin sister, Hager does not wish to identify with any political party and prefers to remain a neutral and independent thinker. She currently serves on the board of the Greenwich International Film Festival.