When Hoda Kotb asked Jenna Bush Hager whether she could recall not liking a particular outfit from the past, the former first daughter had receipts.
“I have one outfit that really stands the test of time. And by ‘stand the test of time,’ means is just hideous,” Bush Hager, 42, said on the Monday, March 4, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna.
Bush Hager then displayed a photo of her alongside twin sister Barbara Bush and their grandparents George H. W. Bush and Barbara Pierce Bush. In the snap, the foursome posed in front of a Christmas tree — with everyone but Bush Hager rocking festive red.
Instead, Bush Hager sported a long-sleeve mustard yellow shirt with a multicolored tie, a high-waisted plaid skirt and glasses.
“OK, wait I have a question. Everyone’s in red … Did you choose your own outfit?” Kotb, 59, asked.
When Bush Hager confirmed she picked out her look, Kotb said she looked “so cute.”
“This is what I just have said to my mother, in retrospect. First of all, a tie is sort of something that is not classic on a woman and won’t stand the test of time,” Bush Hager said. “It is a Christmas party at the White House, so it feels like the type of photo that you may want to look at time and time again.”
She continued, “And when I look at him, I just think, ‘Who is he?’ Who is that little surfer boy?’ And it’s me.”
Bush Hager further expressed her frustrations with her mom, Laura Bush, for letting her wear that outfit to the Christmas party.
“She didn’t control me,” Bush Hager said. “She let my freak flag fly.”
Kotb cut off Bush Hager to reply, “That’s what I love.”
Bush Hager was a young child when her grandfather was president from 1989 to 1993. Her father, George W. Bush, served as president from 2001 to 2009.
In December 2023, Bush Hager made headlines for revealing she and Barbara had dinner alone with their parents for the first time in a decade. The family gathered to celebrate Laura’s 77th birthday and Laura and George’s 46th wedding anniversary.
“There was something about it that was really special, to be just the four of us,” she said during an episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “No distractions, we had the best time. And then we went and all got in bed. My dad was watching some sort of football game, and my mom opened her presents. And then we went to bed at 8:45.”
