Jenna Bush

When Jenna Bush and her fraternal twin sister Barbara were born in 1981, their grandfather, George H.W. Bush, was Vice-President of the United States, and her father, George W. Bush, was just beginning his business career. The two were raised in Dallas, then Austin, when their father became Governor of Texas in 1994. When the two graduated high school in 2000, Barbara went away to attend Yale, and Jenna stayed home at the University of Texas at Austin. The two notably reunited in Austin at the end of their freshman years when they were both arrested twice on alcohol related charges. Upon graduating in 2004, Jenna decided, for the first time, to become an advocate for her father, making a number of public appearances during his re-election campaign, including a speech with her sister at the 2004 Republican Convention. A teachers assistant at a DC school, then an internship for UNICEF, led to her first book, Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope published in 2007. The book tells the story of a young HIV positive girl she met while working for UNICEF. Her second book was published in 2008. Written with her mother, Read All About It! is a book designed to encourage young readers. The same year, she married Henry Hager, and became Jenna Bush Hager. In 2010, Hager made her first appearance as a correspondent for "Today" (NBC, 1952-) and began working her way up the on air hierarchy. In 2013, she was tested as a substitute third-hour co-anchor and by 2016 she was regularly substitute co-anchor on the fourth hour of the show. She also continued writing, and in 2016 published Our Great Big Back Yard, again co-authored with her mother. The following year saw the publication of a memoir written with her sister, entitled Sisters First: Stories from out Wild and Wonderful Life. In early 2019, it was announced that Jenna Bush Hagar was replacing the retiring Kathie Lee Gifford as Hoda Kotb's co-host for the fourth hour of "Today."