Just like Chelsea Clinton immediately before them, and Malia and Sasha Obama straight after them, siblings Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush Hager were thrust into the international spotlight from a young age through no doing of their own. Indeed, the twin sisters are not only the offspring of the 43rd president of the United States George W. Bush and his first lady, Laura Bush, they’re also the granddaughters of the 41st president of the United States, George H.W. Bush and his first lady, Barbara Bush.
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While they’ve both undeniably lived a life of privilege being born into such a powerful political dynasty, Jenna and Barbara have also faced many hardships, too. From the deaths of three grandparents in quick succession and body image issues to high school bullying and too many car accidents to mention, here’s a look at 14 times the former first daughters experienced tragedy in their lives.
Jenna Bush Hager has struggled with her body image since she was young
As regular viewers of “Today” will already know, Jenna Bush Hager has always been open about the struggles she’s faced with her body image. Indeed, as she revealed on the NBC show in 2019, the former first daughter began obsessing about her weight in first grade.
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Discussing one particular entry in the childhood journal she discovered in adulthood, Bush Hager said on “Today” (via People), “I could barely write, and I certainly couldn’t spell, and my new year’s resolution was to lose 4 lbs. and I actually scratched out 7 and wrote 4.” The TV personality also recalled how her twin sister Barbara Bush had initially tried to hide the journal years later over fears it would be too upsetting.
Sadly, the young Bush Hager remained hung up about her size throughout her school years. “It’s so interesting because people really do hit you right where it hurts,” she told the “Today” (via People) audience about another emotionally scarring incident from her past in 2023. “I had a boyfriend in 7th grade who broke up with me after we went swimming together, after he saw me in a bathing suit.”
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The Bush twins were left devastated when their father decided to run for president
In the late 1990s, George W. Bush sat his 16-year-old twin daughters down to inform them of his rather lofty political ambitions: He was going to campaign to become the 43rd president of the United States. Unfortunately for the man — who, in the election of 2000, very much achieved his goal — their reaction wasn’t the one he wanted.
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Speaking about the interaction on an episode of “Today” several decades later, Jenna Bush Hager recalled her and sibling Barbara Bush’s responses. “We broke out in tears,” she told viewers (via Daily Mail). “As only twins can do, we cried in unison! We said, ‘No, you’re going to ruin our lives, dad.'” If that wasn’t enough, the pair also insisted that their father would have no chance of making it to the White House anyway.
“Well, that didn’t happen,” co-host Sheinelle Jones quipped in response. “Well, came close,” Bush Hager replied, referring to the razor-thin presidential election battle between her pop and Democratic nominee Al Gore. “Anyway, we went after him and since then as an adult, we publicly apologized. That was horrible.”
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Barbara Bush was bullied at high school over her family connection
While a young Jenna Bush Hager may have had a fighting chance of forging her own path, her sister could never get away from the fact that she was a member of an American political dynasty. Indeed, by sharing the same name as her grandmother — the former first lady and wife of 41st president George H.W. Bush — Barbara Bush was teased throughout her childhood.
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“Imagine going to a big public high school, and they’d be like, ‘Barbara Bush!'” Jenna explained to her co-hosts on “Today” in 2025. “They’d be like, ‘Yo, Barbara Bush.’ And everybody laughed. And so she was embarrassed.” In fact, her poor sibling couldn’t even order fast-food back in the day without being mocked.
“She would call and she had a little sweet voice, too, and she’d call Domino’s to order pizza, and they would think that she was pranking,” Jenna added. “She’d be like, ‘My name is Barbara Bush,’ and they’d be like, ‘What? You liar. Hang up.'” However, following the death of her grandmother in 2018, Barbara started to appreciate her moniker.
Jenna Bush Hager regrets not having more fun at college
During a 2025 appearance on “Today,” guest Regina Hall turned the tables on host Jenna Bush Hager when she started asking the questions, including “Did you have fun when you dated your husband?” The response probably wasn’t what the actor, or the audience at home, were expecting.
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Indeed, although Jenna made sure to point out that she did have fun dating future spouse Henry Chase Hager, she wished she played the field a little more beforehand. “When I met my husband, that was it,” the former first daughter clarified on “Today” (via Decider). “I wish in college — I knew, I loved him. I mean he walked in and I said to Barbara, ‘Of course the cute one has a girlfriend’ … But I just mean in college I felt a little restricted by Secret Service men if I’m really honest. So, I kept my numbers low.”
Jenna, who was studying at Austin’s University of Texas when her dad George W. Bush was elected the 43rd president of the United States, went on to add that the Secret Service had got in the way throughout much of her teenage years, too. Although Hall did her best to reassure Jenna that she was lucky to have found “the one” so early, the host still expressed regret that she didn’t have “a little more fun.”
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Barbara Bush was punished for her father’s politics
Jenna Bush Hager wasn’t the only daughter of the 43rd president of the United States to have a college experience impacted by outside forces. While promoting their shared memoir, “Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life,” on “Today,” Barbara Bush recalled how she was targeted by one particular teacher due to her dad’s controversial involvement in a major international conflict.
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“I went to go meet with one of my T.A.’s at Yale,” Barbara said (via Daily Mail). “I hadn’t been getting great grades in the class … So I went to meet with her to find out how to be better and she said to me, ‘I’ll give you an A if your dad doesn’t go to war in Iraq.'”
When asked by host Matt Lauer about how she responded to this inappropriate offer at the time, Barbara revealed that she felt deeply uncomfortable. However, she also managed to take away a valuable life lesson, too. “I saw my teacher as an authority figure and I thought she would have seen me as just a student,” she explained. “But something that definitely kind of taught me how you use your position, if you’re in a position of power.”
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Both Bush twins were arrested for underage drinking
While most teenagers who get caught underage drinking are allowed to forget about it, Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush were named and shamed in front of the entire world. In the former’s case, this happened on two separate occasions within the space of a month!
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Jenna Bush Hager’s wild past began in the spring of 2001 when she was charged with alcohol possession while under the legal age limit of 21 after being spotted by undercover cops in Austin, Texas. The first daughter was subsequently ordered to attend six hours of classes on drink-awareness and undergo eight hours of community service. Unfortunately, this didn’t appear to serve as much of a deterrent.
Indeed, just a couple of weeks later, Jenna found herself in trouble with the law for the exact same reason, only this time she wasn’t alone. According to reports, the former had tried to purchase alcohol at a branch of the Tex-Mex chain restaurant, Chuy’s, with a fake ID while accompanied by her sister Barbara. After pleading no contest, she was given a similar punishment to her previous misdemeanor and was also sentenced to three months of probation.
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The Bush twins had an accident-filled first year after getting their driver’s licenses
You might expect that the daughters of a United States president would be chauffeured around on a whim for their entire lives. But Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush both still insist on getting behind the wheel themselves. While that may be applaudable in theory, the reality is that they present a constant menace to the nation’s roads.
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As Jenna sheepishly admitted during a 2024 episode of “Today” (via People), she and her sister have got into a combined total of 13 accidents in the first year after passing their tests. “My first year of driving, I had a little impulse control issues,” the host told viewers. “My brain developed a little later. So I would just put it on, get in the car, speed back, without ever looking back.”
But things don’t appear to have got much better since her brain fully developed. “I got in one total wreck in my one driveway of late,” Jenna revealed, adding that the poor car involved became a total write-off as a result. “I’m not a great driver,” she admitted. Luckily, neither Bush sibling has suffered a serious injury during their unlucky 13.
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Jenna Bush Hager was once body shamed by her grandmother
While discussing body image on a 2023 episode of “Today,” Jenna Bush Hager revealed that she was once shamed for her figure as a youngster. And the insensitive individual responsible was none other than her grandma, aka former first lady Barbara Bush.
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Jenna told “Today” viewers (via People) that she distinctly remembers the incident and how she was wearing a yellow bikini at the time while lying next to her twin sister, also named Barbara Bush. “And my grandmother, who I adored but had kind of a biting personality, said something like, ‘Oh Jenna, looking chubby.’ I remember feeling like I wanted to hide in it.”
The hurtful comments left a lasting impact on Jenna: In fact, she avoided sporting a bikini for several years as a result. However, Jenna disclosed that Barbara Sr. did eventually apologize for the cutting remark. “Late in life, she said, ‘You know when I said those things to you, I was talking to myself.'”
Jenna Bush Hager had a miscarriage
In 2023, Jenna Bush Hager revealed live on “Today” that before giving birth to children Mila, Poppy, and Hal, she had suffered the heartbreak of a miscarriage. “And at the time, because I had to have surgery, it felt like … it felt really hard,” the former first daughter told co-host Hoda Kotb about her experience with an ectopic pregnancy.
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“And also hard ’cause we were young and I don’t know that Henry [Chase Hager] and I necessary knew even the language of life yet; how lucky we were,” Jenna went on to add. Although this was the first time that the TV personality had gone completely public with the news, it wasn’t entirely a secret. “Mila loves to tell people, ‘Mommy had a baby that died,'” she continued, referring to her eldest daughter. “I’m like, ‘Mila … strangers!'”
Admirably, Jenna has been able to take something positive from such a traumatic time. “When I look at those three kids’ faces, had that baby lived, the other three wouldn’t necessarily be mine,” she explained. “And I always think about those little twists that felt like the hardest heartbreaks.”
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Jenna Bush Hager has broken three of her fingers
In February 2025, rumors began to swirl that Jenna Bush Hager’s oft-weird marriage to Henry Chase Hager was in trouble after she was spotted without her wedding ring. But there was a perfectly valid reason for the no-show. She’d simply broken the finger it was usually placed on.
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This wasn’t the first, or indeed the last, time that Jenna suffered such an injury. A month later, the former first daughter warned viewers of “Today” (via Page Six) that they might want to temporarily look away from the screen. She subsequently showed off her middle finger, which had quite clearly dislocated. “Y’all may notice that I’m wearing a splint,” she said before quipping to her sister Barbara Bush, “I may have you sign [it] during the commercial break.”
Jenna then recalled the fourth-grade incident in which another poor finger got the same treatment. To make matters worse, her parents George and Laura Bush initially didn’t believe that she’d broken anything due to her habit of “crying wolf.”
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Jenna Bush Hager lost four teeth in an accident
Jenna Bush Hager doesn’t appear to have much luck when it comes to completely avoidable injuries. As well as breaking three fingers in separate incidents, the former first daughter also once broke four teeth in one fell swoop.
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Bush Hager felt inclined to recall the incident on hearing that Kristen Wiig had once chipped a tooth at an “Saturday Night Live” after-show bash. “Well, I was in a drinking and dancing accident,” she told “Today” viewers in 2024 (via Newsweek), going on to explain that it occurred when an old friend named Molly Devine started to spin her around in their shared apartment. On being released, her slippery tights-clad feet propelled her to the floor and the rest is history. Well, kinda.
Hager didn’t lose her teeth straight away. In fact, it was only a couple of days later at her sister Barbara Bush’s workplace that she was alerted to a major change: “This lovely intern goes, ‘Honey, you have some gray stuff on your teeth.’ I killed four roots — no actually, Molly killed four roots.”
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The Bush twins lost three grandparents within a year
To lose one grandparent is hard enough, but Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush Hager had to deal with losing three within the space of just over a year. Firstly, the former’s namesake died in April 2018 at the age of 92. Then George H.W. Bush passed away seven months later aged 94. Then, their maternal grandmother, Jenna Hawkins, died just a couple months short of her centenary birthday in May 2019.
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“I know many people go through the grief and the beauty of reflecting on the people we lose and love,” an emotional Jenna — who discovered she was pregnant with third child Hal just a week after the death of her former president grandad — told “Today” viewers (via Oprah Daily) in 2020. “But I think they’re always whispering to me.”
“As long as I’m alive, my grandparents will not be forgotten,” Jenna added, having also lost her paternal grandfather, Harold, in 1995. “I hear their voices in the letters they sent me and in my memories. They offer comfort, support, and guidance, and I will listen to them always.”
Jenna Bush Hager’s beloved pet went missing
Jenna Bush Hager found herself in the full throes of mom guilt in 2024 when her family’s beloved pet went missing. As she fully admitted to Hoda Kotb on “Today,” it was kinda the former first daughter’s fault.
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Jenna admitted that her 11-year-old daughter Mila’s cat, Hollywood, had crept out the front door unnoticed during a children’s birthday bash she was hosting. Although the NBC favorite and her other half, Henry Chase Hager, tried everything they could to find her, the feline was never seen again. Mila subsequently spent three consecutive nights in her mom’s bedroom in tears.
“Sometimes right before we went on [air], you were crying, not just about the loss of your cat, but about Mila,” Kotb recalled to Jenna about the difficult period. After several months, however, the Bush Hager family decided it was time to introduce another cat into the fold. “Hopefully Holly will come smell that little kitty and be like, ‘Who’s getting in there with my parents!?'” Jenna added hopefully.
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Jenna Bush Hager struggled with her Today co-host’s departure
Having co-hosted NBC’s “Today” together for so long, Jenna Bush Hager was always going to find it hard to deal with the departure of Hoda Kotb. Even so, she was still surprised at just how emotional she became over the change in personnel.
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“I was like, ‘Wait, you can’t, you can’t go,'” Bush Hager told “Today” about the first time she heard the news. In fact, she was so stunned by the development that she needed to contact her mother and father for some reassurance. “I was crying in such a way that they thought something really bad had happened,” she added. “When they found out that it was just that Hoda was ready to move on to other chapters, they said, ‘Oh, Jenna, it’s gonna be okay.'”
Although Bush Hager — who has always been happy to speak out about the status of Kotb’s love life – still misses her old colleague, she’s also happy that Kotb is carving a new path. “I’m so proud of Hoda,” the former first daughter said. “I think she’s doing exactly what she needs to do at this moment for her.”
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