Jenna Bush Hager opens up about her ‘sisterhood’ with Chelsea Clinton and the Obama girls

Jenna Bush Hager has opened up about the ‘sisterhood’ she has with other former first daughters and how her father really felt about her getting caught sticking her tongue out at reporters during his reelection campaign. 

The 38-year-old Today host appeared on Watch What Happens Live on Tuesday night, and during the after show, host Andy Cohen asked her if has a relationship with Chelsea Clinton, 40, as well as Malia, 22, and Sasha Obama, 19.  

‘We really do, in some ways. We reach out to each other,’ she said. ‘Chelsea and I see each other around — well, we used to. Now, I don’t see anybody. But we used to see each other around New York City. And I reach out to the Obama girls and vice versa. But we do.’

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‘There is a sisterhood because it’s so few of us that we know what it’s like and the beauty of it and living history and also some of the difficulties,’ she added. 

When asked if she knew Amy Carter, she admitted she hasn’t had much contact with the former first daughter.  

‘I met Amy Carter once. I did a show on Christmas at the White House and I got to meet her,’ she explained. ‘But, no, I don’t know her that well. I really don’t. I should reach out.’ 

Jenna’s family called the White House home from 2001 to 2009, though she and her twin sister Barbara were away at college or living elsewhere throughout most of their father George W. Bush’s presidency. 

The Bush twins also spent plenty of time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when their grandfather George H.W. Bush was president from 1989 to 1993.

Jenna and Barbara warmly welcomed Sasha and Malia to the White House with a letter after their father Barack Obama was named president in November 2008. They gave them a second letter eight years later, right before their dad left office. 

Former First Lady Michelle Obama has openly credited Jenna, Barbara, and Chelsea with helping her daughters during their time in the White House. 

‘I love those girls,’ she said on Good Morning America in 2018. ‘I will love them forever for what kind of support they provided to my daughters throughout that.’

Chelsea also used to be good friends with Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka before he became president, but they had a falling out during the 2016 election.  

Considering that the current president has slammed both the late George H.W and George W. Bush during his first term, it seems unlikely that Jenna and Barbara will share a close bond with his daughters Ivanka and Tiffany as they do with Chelsea, Malia, and Sasha. 

During her after-show appearance, Jenna was also asked about how her father reacted when she famously got caught sticking her tongue out at reporters during his 2004 campaign. 

‘I was with my dad and my sister, and I was like, “People don’t even know what’s going on in here, like watch this,”‘ she recalled ‘And Barbara and I constantly harassed [my father] and tried to make him laugh, and then I was down in the hotel gym doing the elliptical and I looked up on the TV and there was like my little face with a spotlight on it, and it was on the local news.

‘I was like, “Oh no, I better get back up to the hotel room and tell Dad that this thing went out.”‘

While Jenna can’t remember the public’s reaction to the snafu, she said her father wasn’t at all bothered by it. 

‘My dad was just like, “Jen, this is so typical,”‘ she said. ‘He thought it was funny. I think he really wanted Barbara and I to have normal childhoods, and we did until he became president.’ 

‘There’s no guidebook, but his whole thing was like, “Y’all can be normal college kids. You go be you,” and then he realized pretty soon after that that we really couldn’t be normal college kids,’ she added.  

The Bush twins were both famously caught drinking underage when they were away at college. While she was a student at the University of Texas, Jenna was cited for possession of alcohol as a minor and using a fake ID to purchase alcohol within a five-week span in 2001. 

That same year, Barbara was also charged with possession of alcohol as a minor while attending Yale University. Despite the public scrutiny during his presidency, Jenna said her father never judged them. 

‘His reactions were always filled with grace and love. He wasn’t the type to shame us for acting silly,’ she explained. 

A few days after her appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Jenna celebrated her new book about her grandparents, Everything Beautiful in Its Time: Seasons of Love and Loss, making the New York Times Best Seller list. 

Jenna, who shares a son Hal, one, and daughters Mila, seven, and Poppy, five, with her husband Henry Hager, explained on the Today show Thursday that her eldest children had a hilarious reaction to her book taking the number three spot on the list. 

‘Mila and Poppy were like, “You’re not number one?”‘ the mom said with a laugh.