Jenna Bush

Jenna Bush Hager Makes Her Today Show Debut

Originally posted 09/18/2009 11:55AM

While waiting to make her debut as a Today show correspondent live from the new and massive Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Jenna Bush Hager was feeling a bit nostalgic.

"My first cat was named Cowboy, after the Dallas Cowboys," she told PEOPLE. "I'm from Texas and went to elementary school here, so to come back here to do my first story in Dallas is really meaningful to me. Especially since my parents moved back."


So where would former president George W. Bush and wife Laura be watching their daughter's debut? "At home. They're retired," she said with a laugh.

Hager, who plans to keep her part-time job as a sixth-grade reading resource teacher, will focus mostly on the education beat for Today. Her first assignment: a feature on Dalton Sherman, a Dallas 11-year-old public-speaking pro who has left some audiences in tears.

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Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty

Jenna Hager: Key to Marriage Is Being Supportive

Originally posted 07/24/2009 02:25PM

When First Lady Laura Bush packed the last of her White House things off to Dallas in January, she didn't even know how to use a computer. Now, her daughter says, she's a regular thumb-typer on a new Blackberry – and so is the former President.

"It's funny to see them on their Blackberries. They didn't have Blackberries in office," their daughter Jenna Hager, 27, tells PEOPLE. "And now it's funny to get emails from them – even when I know they're traveling."

So have they mastered typing with their thumbs? "They're learning," says Hager. "My mom is pretty slow."

As for Hager, a Baltimore 6th-grade teacher who celebrated her first wedding anniversary in May with husband Henry Hager, she's still learning the secrets to a successful marriage: "We've only been married a year, so I don't know if I'm any guru on marriage. I think it's just to stay really supportive and active in each other's lives."

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Credit: Tina Fineberg/AP

Bush Daughters: We're Ready for Dad to Return to Texas

Originally posted 12/19/2008 10:15AM

After eight years in the White House, President Bush's twin daughters are looking forward to a respite from Washington – if only for their father's sake.

In a PEOPLE interview, Jenna Hager and Barbara Bush, both 27, reflect on the strain George W. Bush has been under. The twins also offer some advice to the Obamas' daughters, Sasha and Malia, and Jenna's new husband Henry Hager talks about bonding with the First Father-in-Law.

Jenna and Barbara, how have you seen your parents change over the last eight years?
Jenna: Eight years ago, my dad was a very popular Texas governor. And I think in Texas, he was able to get a lot done because he was friends with Democrats and Republicans – Democrats supported him. So he was – we were very optimistic. I think maybe I was a little naive about how people would treat him. But he's never wavered in his decisions and he's the same as he was when we were little, his ethics. So that's something to be proud of in itself.
Barbara: And I would say we haven't see our parents as people change that much, because they've stayed the same to us and they've, as Jenna said, have the same characteristics and ethics that they had all their life.
Jenna: He looks a little bit older, obviously. He's been under a lot of stress, so we're ready for him to go back to Texas and be warmly received, I'm sure.

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Credit: Starsurf/Splash News Online

Couples

First Daughter Jenna Hager's Hawaiian Honeymoon

Originally posted 05/29/2008 12:55PM

They've done all the hard work – and now it's time to relax.

Jenna and Henry Hager are honeymooning on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, where they were snapped Wednesday cuddling on the beach. Before the sun-filled PDA, the newlyweds stuck to a hectic schedule. A little more than a week after their May 10 wedding at the Bush family ranch in Crawford, Texas, Jenna, 26, and Henry, 30, traveled to Virginia for another lavish ceremony: his graduation from Virginia's Darden School of Business. Later that week, Jenna headed to Los Angeles for a taping of the Ellen DeGeneres Show with her mother.

Credit: Shealah Craighead/White House

Jenna & Henry Hager Attend His Graduation

Originally posted 05/22/2008 09:25AM

Just a little more than week after their May 10 wedding at the Bush family ranch in Crawford, Texas, Jenna and Henry Hager attended another lavish ceremony: the new groom's graduation from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business.

Last Sunday afternoon, reports The Washington Post, the newlyweds, accompanied by the graduate's parents – John and Maggie Hager – unobtrusively arrived at North Grounds Recreation Center about half an hour before commencement.

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