Jenna Bush Hager

Hager is also a granddaughter of the 41st U.S. President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush, great-granddaughter of former U.S. Senator Prescott Bush, niece of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and first cousin of former Land Commissioner of Texas, George P. Bush.

After her father's presidency, Hager became an author, an editor-at-large for Southern Living magazine, and a television personality on NBC, being featured most prominently as a member of The Today Show as a correspondent, contributor and co-host.

She is the co-host of Today with Hoda & Jenna, the fourth hour of NBC's morning news program Today. Hager and her fraternal twin sister, Barbara, are the daughters of the 43rd U.S. President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush.

Jenna Welch Hager (née Bush; born November 25, 1981) is an American news personality, author, and journalist.

Hager was born on 25 November 1981 at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, and she was named after her maternal grandmother, Jenna Hawkins Welch.

While living in Dallas, she and her sister, Barbara, attended Preston Hollow Elementary School and then The Hockaday School.

In 1994, after her father was elected Governor of Texas and the family moved to Austin, Texas, Bush was a student at St. Andrew's Episcopal School and attended Austin High School, from 1996 until her graduation, in 2000.

Jenna and Barbara asked their father not to run for President of the United States in 2000: "Oh, I just wish you wouldn't run. It's going to change our life."

Her father told them that he and her mother needed to live their lives.

With her father becoming President in 2001, she attended the University of Texas at Austin and took summer classes at New York University.

She was a legacy member of Kappa Alpha Theta, her mother's sorority.

While there, Jenna and her sister, Barbara, made national headlines when they were both arrested for alcohol-related charges, twice, within five weeks.

On April 29, 2001, Jenna was charged with a misdemeanor for possession of alcohol under the age of 21 in Austin.

On May 29, 2001, Jenna was charged with another misdemeanor — attempting to use a fake ID (with the name "Barbara Pierce," her paternal grandmother's maiden name) to purchase alcohol.

She pleaded no contest to both charges.

In the winter of 2003, she and Barbara opted to become involved in the 2004 campaign.

Jenna Bush graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English in 2004.

In response to this decision, she made media appearances during the summer of 2004, prior to the election.

She and her sister made several joint public appearances, including giving a speech to the Republican Convention on August 31, 2004.

She made headlines when she was found sticking her tongue out to media photographers at a campaign stop in St. Louis.

Jenna and Barbara took turns traveling to swing states, with their father, and also gave a seven page interview and photo shoot in Vogue.

Jenna later confirmed that Barbara and Jenna also developed a friendship with John Kerry's daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa, who campaigned on behalf of their father.

Before leaving Washington, D.C., in summer 2006, Hager worked at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School for a year and a half, as a teacher's aide.

She took a leave of absence from the charter school position to work at a shelter as part of an internship for UNICEF's Educational Policy Department in Latin America, specifically Panama.

After her internship for UNICEF, Hager returned to her position at the charter school in Washington, D.C. She has done work as a part-time reading coordinator at the SEED Public Charter School in Baltimore, Maryland, and she has contributed a monthly news story about education for the Today show.

The title of the book is Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope, and it chronicles her experiences working with UNICEF sponsored charities in Latin America, including visits to drought-stricken Paraguay in 2006, while working as an intern for United Nations Children's Fund.

In 2007, Hager began marketing a book proposal with the assistance of Robert B. Barnett, a Washington attorney.

HarperCollins announced in March 2007, it would publish the book, and it was released September 28, 2007, with an initial printing of 500,000 copies.

Her share of the profits will go to UNICEF, while the remainder will go to the woman whose life is the basis of the book, assisting in the young woman's continuing education.

During the book tour, Hager appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. During the interview, Hager telephoned her parents.

Hager wrote a second book, in conjunction with her mother, designed to encourage children to read.

The book, entitled Read All About It!, was published on April 22, 2008, also by HarperCollins.

Since 2009, Jenna Bush has worked at NBC News, as a correspondent, and at Today, as both a contributor and an anchor.

In August 2009, NBC hired Hager as a correspondent and contributor for The Today Show.

As time has progressed, Hager's profile has increased on Today, including filling in as the orange room anchor during the 7AM-9AM hours and substituting for Kathie Lee Gifford or Hoda Kotb during the fourth hour.

On November 26, 2012, Hager was named editor-at-large of Southern Living magazine.

In 2018, she interviewed Michelle Obama in a discussion about her life in the White House, the challenges of raising her daughters in the spotlight, and her book, Becoming.

They also discussed the political atmosphere and political bipartisanship, with Obama stating that, despite their political differences, Hager's father, George W. Bush, is a "beautiful, funny, kind, sweet man".

In March 2019, Hager started Read with Jenna, a monthly book club on Today Show.

In April 2019, Hager began co-anchoring the fourth hour of Today with Hoda Kotb, following Kathie Lee Gifford's departure.