10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Jenna Bush Hager's mother once wrote a handwritten apology for parenting mishap
Jenna Bush Hager is looking back at an apology her mother gave her years ago.
In the newest episode of her 'Open Book with Jenna' podcast, the 43-year-old 'Today' host talked to psychologist Aliza Pressman about effective tools to help make the parenting journey more enjoyable.
During their conversation, Bush Hager recalled a touching memory about her mother, former First Lady Laura Bush.
'She read an article in the Washington Post about how basically, you know, women look at their daughters as mirrors,' Bush Hager explains on the podcast.
'And sometimes they'll be like, 'Oh, get the hair out of your face,' because it's sort of like them talking to themselves,' she continued.
According to Bush Hager, that article was quite the eye-opener for her mother.
'She wrote, like, in her cursive next to the article, like, 'I know that this has been me,' and I'm, you know, 'I'm sorry,'' Bush Hager recalled.
Pressman, who released her bestselling book, 'The 5 Principles of Parenting,' in January 2024, said she could relate to what Laura Bush was experiencing at that moment.
'I can speak for myself. I still, no matter how much I know, worry so much about those moments where I'm like, 'Are we repaired? Do I need to say something? What happened here?'' Pressman explained.
According to her website, Pressman is the mom of two teens.
'I just think it's so beautiful. And I really lean into that science of repair because I believe it,' she continued. 'And I think it is important for us to know that the door is open forever.'
Bush Hager, who shares three children with her husband Henry Hager, agreed that parents 'should be having those conversations — even as adults.'
The discussion came two weeks after Bush Hager and her twin sister, Barbara Bush, interviewed their mother — who spoke about the joys of having (and raising) twin daughters.
'We were so thrilled to get two of you at once,' Laura Bush said in the interview, per Today. 'Especially, I thought, because since I was an only child, for you to have each other.'
The former First Lady, who has been married to George W. Bush since 1977, described Bush Hager as the 'wildest' of their family-of-four.
But despite their unique upbringing — and partly growing up in the White House — Laura Bush said she never expected her daughters to be perfect.
She did, however, always know that they would make great mothers.
'It's been really fun to see both of you do it,' Laura Bush said of her two daughters, who have made her a grandmother to five children over the past decade.
'It's wonderful to have grandchildren, I'm thrilled to have grandchildren,' Laura Bush said to her twins. 'For one thing, we can be with them, we can play with them, then we can send them all to y'all!'
Bush Hager shares two daughters — Mila, 11, and Poppy, 9 — and son Hal, 5, with her husband.
Meanwhile, Barbara Bush shares two children — daughter Cora Georgia, 3, and son Edward Finn, born in August 2024 — with her husband Craig Coyne.
In an interview with Us Weekly, published March 29, the two sisters revealed that they 'aspire' to be the kind of parents Laura and George W. Bush were.
'They tried to make the world creative and magical for us. And when you're really little, the world is magical,' Bush Hager said of her childhood.
'So, it's both parents being part of their kids' lives, but it's also parents getting kid energy, putting down their phones and seeing what they see because it's hilarious and it's fun,' she continued.
