Tragic Details About Jenna Bush Hager

Jenna Bush Hager has lived much of her life in the public eye. The granddaughter and daughter of former presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, respectively, Hager grew up in one of the most famous families in modern American politics. Before her father became president, Hager dealt with the unique aspects of being the governor's daughter in one of the biggest states in the nation, and once her father became president, she took on the challenges of being related to the most powerful man in the world. Hager knows how complicated living in the spotlight can be.

Although Hager lives a lavish lifestyle and is part of a political dynasty, she still considers herself to be a normal person with a normal life. And, as all normal people know, normal life isn't particularly easy, either. Between growing up in a famous family and becoming independently famous as an adult, as well as navigating regular life, Hager has endured her share of devastation. Here are the tragic details about Jenna Bush Hager.

What people go through as children can have a profound impact on them as adults, and Jenna Bush Hager knows that firsthand. On an episode of "Today," Hager opened up about the body image issues she faced when she was growing up. The television host shared a story about being in a bikini one day with her family, noting that her grandmother made a negative comment about her weight, and the comment stuck with her. The comment apparently stuck with her grandmother, too, because, as Hager shared, the two had a conversation later in her grandmother's life where she told Hager that her own mother had made comments like that when she was growing up. "[My grandmother] said, 'When I said those things to you, I was talking to myself,'" Hager said of their conversation.

Hager doesn't want those generational traumas to affect her own children. In a segment that Hager filmed for "Today," she talked candidly about her body image and health journey as an adult, noting that she's come to appreciate herself as a child in a way that she didn't while growing up. "The pictures of myself as a little girl that may not have felt the cutest, it was like, well she was the funniest, and she was smart, and she had a huge heart, and those are the things that I tried to emphasize," Hager said of herself. The television host said that she doesn't speak negatively about her body in front of her children — she instead models healthy habits and how to take care of oneself.

Driving is so commonplace in America that it's easy to forget how serious of a task it is and how easily it can go awry. It's especially dangerous for teenagers, and no one knows that better than Jenna Bush Hager. On an episode of "Today," Hager shared that while she and her sister were growing up, they got into about 13 car accidents together. "My first year of driving, I had a little impulse control issues," Hager said, as reported by People. "My brain developed a little later. So I would just put it on, get in the car, speed back, without ever looking back." Fortunately for Hager, as she noted, none of the accidents were serious. However, Hager did get into another car accident as an adult that totaled her car. As she shared, while driving, Hager slid on black ice, something she had never heard of, let alone experienced, while growing up in Texas. The TV host spun out and slid into a tree.

This was not the first time Hager mentioned her driving skills, or lack thereof. The anchor noted on a separate episode of "Today" that the Department of Public Safety in Texas taught her how to drive. Hager's father, George W. Bush, was the governor of Texas at the time, and he and his wife, Laura Bush, were not allowed to drive, meaning state officials had to give Hager and her sister driving lessons. "You would think I'd be an excellent driver," Hager quipped.

Much of Jenna Bush Hager's life today is thanks to her father, George W. Bush, serving two terms as president of the United States. However, when Hager first learned that Bush wanted to run for office, she was anything but excited. As Hager explained on an episode of "Today," as reported by the New York Post, Bush, who was the governor of Texas at the time, sat down with her and her sister and asked for their support in running for president. "We broke out in tears," Hager said of her and her sister's response. "As only twins can do, we cried in unison... We said, 'No!' We said, 'You're gonna ruin our lives, Dad,'" she said.

Of course, Bush went on to win the election, and Hager and her sister were able to find a balance between living their own lives and being part of their dad's administration (though there were plenty of bumps in the road). As Hager said to People of her time as the child of a sitting president, "[My sister and I] didn't ever live there, which I think is the best part of it. We could visit, but also have our own lives, which I think is very healthy." She added, "I think the biggest positive is living history and that our parents were so generous in allowing us to live history, that we got to travel with them all over the world and meet such incredible people." By the time Bush's second term ended, Hager had already graduated college, was married, and was just months away from beginning her work at NBC.

Anyone who was paying attention during the George W. Bush administration will remember that Jenna Bush Hager and her twin sister had a reputation for being party animals. The young women had just begun college when their father took office as president, and they were living the lives of regular college students. Unfortunately, living as regular college students didn't serve them particularly well. In 2001, Hager was arrested for unlawful possession of alcohol and using a fake ID to purchase alcohol. Subsequently, Hager pleaded no contest to the charge, and she was sentenced to eight hours of community service and a six-hour class about substance abuse.

Hager's arrest followed her in many ways, including within her own family. While hosting an episode of "Today," Hager shared with her former co-host, Hoda Kotb, that her own father once blasted her for her arrest in front of Barack Obama. Hager was moderating a discussion, and Bush suggested she talk about the time she was arrested. "President Obama was there," Hager shared, as reported by Decider. "He was like, 'How do you do that?' ...He said, 'This must be hard for you,' and I said, 'Yes, it is,'" she said.

As noted, much of Jenna Bush Hager's behavior while in college was in line with a typical college student. However, typical college students aren't subject to worldwide media scrutiny the way Hager was. After her arrest, nearly every national outlet printed a story about her legal troubles, and she and her sister had people around the country analyzing their every move. "When my dad became president, everything changed," Hager said to People. "We just wanted to be normal college kids."

Although Hager and her sister were receiving criticism from millions of people they didn't know, their parents were forgiving and supportive. "I think the world was expecting us to be perfect, even though our parents did not, which is the absolute best blessing that they could have ever given us. The freedom to just be ourselves and to make mistakes," Hager said.

Losing anyone close is difficult, but it's especially difficult to lose more than one close relationship within a short time span. Such was the case for the stunning Jenna Bush Hager in 2018 when she lost both of her paternal grandparents. In February of that year, Hager's grandmother Barbara Bush died at 92 years old. Hager was close with Barbara, and she shared a letter that she'd written to her grandmother after her death on "Today." "You always said that you were one of the luckiest women to ever live, but Gans I am filled with gratitude because you were ours. We are the lucky ones," Hager wrote.

That December, Hager lost her grandfather, George H.W. Bush. Making the situation of losing two elders in the same year even more unique for Hager and her family, the entire nation knew about both George and Barbara's deaths because of their time served as president and first lady of the United States, respectively. Hager noted on an episode of "Today" the mixed feelings she faced of mourning her grandfather's death publicly. "Losing somebody publicly is difficult because you hear people talk about him or try to weigh his politics... That's not what it's about. But, at the same time, we felt so surrounded with love," she said, noting that she thought of the countless other people whose loved ones don't receive special send-offs upon their deaths. "We miss him," she added. In 2021, Hager went skydiving on George H.W. Bush's birthday to honor his memory. 

Jenna Bush Hager is used to sharing all the bits of her life on television, even the hard ones. In 2019, the television host opened up on an episode of "Today" about a difficult moment she faced during her first pregnancy. Hager explained that she went to the doctor's office, and the medical staff informed her that while her pregnancy test came back positive, they were unable to find a fetus in her womb. Hager was experiencing an ectopic pregnancy, meaning the fetus was in her fallopian tube. The host had to undergo surgery to remove the fetus from her fallopian tube, resulting in pregnancy loss. "At the time, because I had to have surgery, it felt like... it felt really hard," Hager said of the heartbreaking moment on a later episode of "Today." "And also kind of hard because we were young, and I don't know that Henry and I necessarily knew even the language of grief yet," she added.

Time heals all wounds, though, and Hager has since shifted her perspective of losing that first pregnancy. "When I look at those three kid's faces, had that baby lived, the other three wouldn't necessarily be mine," Hager said of the children she has now and the one she lost. "And I always think about those little twists that felt like the hardest heartbreaks." Hager's heartbreak has also led her to connecting more deeply with other women. The TV host has also shared that she formed a stronger bond with her trainer after learning that she has gone through an ectopic pregnancy, too.

Pets become part of families, and losing them is difficult for many people. In 2024, Jenna Bush Hager shared on an episode of "Today" that her family had lost their cat, Hollywood, earlier that year. Some children had come over to join Jenna's birthday party for her daughter and a door was left open, allowing for the cat to sneak out. Jenna detailed the guilt she felt for leaving a door open and inviting kids over in the first place. The family waited for months to see if the cat would come back and did everything they could to find it, but the cat stayed missing.

Jenna tried to see the positive in the situation. She noted that after the cat went missing, she wondered if it happened so that she and her daughter Mila Hager could bond before Mila became a teenager. "For the first three nights that the cat was gone, [Mila] slept with me. And we had these conversations around, you know, all of these really beautiful things about life, about love, about pain, about loss. And I could be there for her, and she could be there for me," Jenna said about the heartbreaking situation. Jenna added that she figured some audiences watching would dismiss the situation because it involved an animal, but she said that the most difficult part was watching her children's sadness over the lost cat. A few months after the Hagers' cat went missing, the family adopted a new kitten.

As noted, Jenna Bush Hager suffered from an ectopic pregnancy, but that's not the only time her health has been at risk as an adult. Some incidents have been self-inflicted, while others have been completely out of her control. For example, before having children, Hager was dancing in her apartment with her friend after a night of drinking. Hager was wearing tights, and after her friend spun her around, she slipped and fell onto the floor. The television host lost her four front teeth in the process. "Two days later, I was at my sister's work and this lovely intern goes, 'Honey, you have some gray stuff on your teeth.' I killed four roots — no actually, [my friend] killed four roots," Hager said on an episode of "Today," per Newsweek. The anchor has since gotten fake teeth to replace the ones she lost.

Hager hasn't detailed every medical emergency she's faced, but she has mentioned some. On a segment she filmed for "Today," Hager spoke about her relationship with her body, noting that, in addition to the ectopic pregnancy, she's also had multiple C-sections and an appendectomy. Because of her multiple stomach surgeries, Hager hadn't actively engaged in core exercise in years. After her ectopic pregnancy, Hager began working with a trainer, and she regained some strength and a new outlook on health in general. "I think that's the thing about women's health," Hager said, "is that it's not just about looking skinny, or looking a certain way, or fitting into your jeans. It's about feeling healthy all the way around."

Jenna Bush Hager has been a staple at NBC for over a decade. The TV host started with the network in 2009, and after filling in for both Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb during the fourth hour of "Today" for many years, she took over as co-host of the show upon Gifford's departure in 2019. Since joining Kotb as co-host, Hager and Kotb have become close friends. Hager even credits Kotb as being instrumental in her getting the job she has now. "You asked me to fill in with you, and I'll never forget it," Hager told Kotb on an episode of "Today," thanking her.

Given their close relationship, it's no surprise that Hager was emotional about Kotb's decision to leave NBC. The longtime anchor announced in 2024 that she was leaving the network, and prior to her exit, Hager shared how she was dealing with the impending transition. "Denial lasted a good month. Anger was last week when I tried to make you jealous with Gayle [King]," Hager said to Kotb on an episode of "Today" ahead of Kotb's departure, per Us Weekly. "I've bargained with God basically every night for the last couple months. And now, I've hit depression, where she says one thing and [I cry]," she said. While Hager was poking fun, she did have plenty of real tears on Kotb's last day at "Today" in early 2025. Kotb's kids, Haley and Hope, were also in attendance for the emotional send-off. "I will miss you, my friend, but I love you, and I'm so proud," Hager said in a letter she wrote to Kotb.