‘Today’s Jenna Bush Hager “Broke Out In Tears” When Dad George W. Bush Said He Would Run For President: “You’re Gonna Lose”

Jenna Bush Hager and her twin sister Barbara were still teenagers when their father, George W. Bush, began his presidential election bid. On Today with Hoda and Jenna, she explained that they were not exactly happy about his decision to run, telling him, “You’re gonna ruin our lives, Dad!”

The conversation began when Bush Hager brought up an anecdote from Supreme Court Justice and Today Show guest Ketanji Brown Jackson‘s memoir, in which Brown Jackson asked her own adolescent daughters for their blessing when she became a Supreme Court nominee, knowing that the exposure might affect their lives.

With co-host Hoda Kotb on vacation, Bush Hager told Kotb’s fill-in, Sheinelle Jones, about the moment, telling her that Brown Jackson’s daughters said, “Yes, mom, this has been your dream, you’ve manifested this, we believe in you.”

Bush Hager then went on to reveal that her father also sought his daughters’ blessing before he ran for President, but Jenna said that she and her twin Barbara were not nearly as supportive.

“When I was 16, my father sat my sister and I down and said, ‘Now listen, we really want your support, I’d like to run for president,'” Bush Hager said.

When Jones asked, “What’d you say?” she replied, “We broke out in tears. As only twins can do. We cried in unison.

“We said no! We said ‘You’re gonna ruin our lives!'” she explained. “And then we said, and even if you run, you’re gonna lose!”

“Well, that didn’t happen,” Jones said, to which Bush Hager looked at the camera and deadpanned, “Well, came close.

“We went after him. Since then, as an adult, we publicly apologized,” she added, admitting that her reaction was “horrible.”

“So, anyway, good on you for raising lovely women,” Bush Hager said of Brown Jackson.

Today with Hoda and Jenna airs weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.