Jenna Bush Hager, the daughter of former U.S. President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush, recently opened up about a little-known chapter from her youth on the Sept. 23 episode of TODAY with Jenna & Friends. Reflecting on her teenage years, Jenna revealed that she once used a fake name to check into hotels, a decision she admits she didn’t particularly enjoy. “I didn’t love it,” she told her guest co-host Sheinelle Jones. “I was just like an 18-year-old kid.”
When asked whether she could finally share the secret identity she had used, Jenna, with a playful grin, decided to “declassify” it. After a brief pause, she revealed: “My name was Holly Crawford.” The revelation took Sheinelle by surprise. “Wait,” Sheinelle said, clearly charmed. “I really love it.” Jenna laughed and explained, in her Southern drawl, that “Holly sounds like a good time, doesn’t she?”
Jenna also offered insight into why this particular name had become special. She suggested that the Secret Service might have chosen the alias for her but emphasized the deeper connection her family has to the name “Crawford.” “Crawford was the name where we would go, where my parents had the house,” she said, referring to the town in Texas where her family spent time. Beyond being a simple alias, the name carried fond memories and a sense of normalcy, even as she navigated the unique challenges of growing up in the public eye.
Holly Crawford, Jenna explained, represented a persona full of energy and spontaneity. “All I know is that when Holly Crawford shows up, she’s ready to order a margarita,” Jenna said with a smile. The description elicited laughter from Sheinelle, who replied, “I really love that! She sounds like a good time.” Through this story, Jenna offered a glimpse of the playful, carefree side of her youth, a side shielded from public scrutiny and political obligations.
Jenna’s reflections on Holly Crawford also fit into a larger narrative about her upbringing. On an April 2024 episode of Hoda Kotb’s podcast Making Space, she shared more about the challenges and privileges of growing up in the Bush family. Despite the public nature of her family’s life, Jenna emphasized that her parents did their best to provide her and her sister with a sense of normalcy. “When we were little, we might have done a thing or two for my grandfather, but once my dad ran for president, we didn’t go to one thing,” she recalled. She noted that while they did attend significant events like election night, they were largely kept out of the day-to-day campaigning.
Jenna explained that her father was careful not to exploit his daughters for political gain. “He wasn’t using us as his daughters for any sort of campaign picture or anything like that,” she said. “We just weren’t part of it. And I think they allowed us to have our lives.” This approach, she noted, gave her and her sister the freedom to grow up relatively independent and to explore their own identities, including playful experiments like using a secret alias.
Through her candid revelations on TODAY with Jenna & Friends, Jenna Bush Hager demonstrated how even small, seemingly trivial acts—like adopting a fake name—can hold deeper significance in a family’s life. Holly Crawford was more than a pseudonym; she was a way for a teenage Jenna to carve out her own space, a persona she could inhabit safely away from the public eye. It was a blend of childhood curiosity, family tradition, and personal rebellion, all rolled into one memorable identity.
In sharing the story, Jenna not only entertained her audience but also gave a rare glimpse into the human side of life as a member of one of America’s most prominent political families. Through humor, honesty, and a touch of nostalgia, she reminded viewers that even presidential daughters can find creative, lighthearted ways to navigate the complexities of fame and family life. Holly Crawford, it seems, was very much a good time indeed.
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