Jenna Bush Hager, cohost of Today with Jenna & Friends and daughter of former U.S. President George W. Bush, recently shared a heartfelt—and hilarious—story about her childhood that revealed a more personal side to her famous family. During a candid conversation on the Today show, Jenna opened up about the emotional challenges she faced as a student and how they occasionally led to big fights with her dad at the kitchen table.
“There was a period of time when I made bad grades,” the 43-year-old said, reflecting on her school years. While Jenna is now known for her confidence and humor on television, she admitted that academics weren’t always her strong suit—especially math. Her father, George W. Bush, tried to step in as a tutor, but his efforts didn’t always go as planned. “My dad would sit with me at that kitchen table and try to teach me math,” she said. “And we’d get in big fights, and I’d cry myself to sleep.”
The Today host laughed as she told the story, recalling how emotional those evenings could get. “He was just trying to help, but I think we both ended up frustrated,” she said. Despite those tense study sessions, Jenna noted that her father’s dedication taught her the importance of perseverance and patience—even if it took years to appreciate it.
Her cohost, Sheinelle Jones, chimed in to ask how her parents handled her academic struggles, leading Jenna to share more about her upbringing in the Bush household. The daughter of a president and a former first lady, she and her twin sister Barbara were raised in a disciplined yet loving environment. “My parents didn’t always know how to handle me,” Jenna joked. “If I have a little Jenna, I don’t even know how I’d parent that.”
Despite her struggles with schoolwork, Jenna went on to find her own path. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and later became a teacher at a charter school before transitioning into journalism and television. Those early lessons in persistence, she said, helped shape her into the mother, teacher, and broadcaster she is today.
Jenna’s humorous honesty about her youth has become one of her trademarks on Today, where she often shares both the glamorous and the messy parts of life. She has been open about her teenage rebellion, the pressures of being a first daughter, and even pulling pranks on her parents—like the time she told her mom she was pregnant as an April Fools’ joke while her dad was serving as president.
Looking back, Jenna’s confessions offer a rare glimpse into the humanity of a family often seen only through the lens of politics. Her stories remind viewers that even presidents lose their patience helping with math homework—and that even future television stars sometimes cry themselves to sleep over algebra.
Now a mother of three—Mila, 12, Poppy, 10, and Hal, 6—Jenna says she can laugh about those days. But she admits, with a grin, “I just hope my daughters don’t give me as hard a time as I gave my parents.”
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