Sometimes it’s hard to remember that our parents lived a whole life before we were born. Jenna Bush Hager got a harsh dose of reality when she learned a shocking secret about her dad. The Today Show host revealed something about former President George W. Bush that isn’t talked about often. Keep reading for more details on the shocking secret.
Jenna Bush Hager Reveals Shocking Secret About Dad
Jenna Bush Hager is extremely close to her parents and twin sister, Barbara. While most of us think of George W. Bush and his wife as President and First Lady, they’re just “Dad” and “Mom” to the talk show host. She interviewed her dad on the NBC morning show a few months ago as part of a feature on the living Presidents. However, she forgot to bring up one of the biggest secrets she learned about him.
Jenna Bush Hager asked Sheinelle Jones on a recent episode of the Today Show if she knew anyone who called off a wedding. Before Sheinelle could answer, Jenna launched into a shocking family secret. Her father, former President George W. Bush, once called off a wedding to another woman before he married Laura.
Jenna Bush Hager recalled a time when she got a bad grade on a math test and sought condolence from her father. George W. Bush denied ever getting a bad grade, prompting them to look through a memory box for his grades. But what Jenna Bush Hager saw instead left her reeling.
“He took out his memory box that my grandmother had made him, or kind of a photo album, to show a report card, and I saw a wedding announcement to somebody that wasn’t my mom,” she told a shocked Sheinelle Jones.
According to multiple outlets, George W. Bush was engaged to a woman named Cathryn Lee Wolfman in 1967. But he obviously never went through with the wedding. He eventually married Laura Bush in 1977 and they went on to welcome twins, Barbara and Jenna, now 44.
Jenna Bush Hager revealed on the morning show that she did not take the news of her father’s previous engagement very well.
The Today Show Host Details ‘Melodramatic’ Reaction To News
Jenna Bush Hager said that she was in third grade when she discovered her father’s broken engagement. “I just started crying and made it about myself as a third grader does. And he was like, ‘Oh yeah, I was engaged,’” she told Sheinelle Jones.
Later in the conversation, Jenna Bush Hager called her initial reaction “melodramatic.” She said, “I didn’t realize in that third grade melodramatic, like, good thing he called it off or we wouldn’t be here.”
Luckily for Jenna and her sister, George W. Bush was a runaway groom and later married their mother. Sheinelle Jones steered the conversation to the importance of saying no to things you don’t want to do. Did you know about the former President’s previous engagement before his daughter outed it on national television?
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger