Jenna Bush Hager shared a candid confession about her college dating life during Friday’s episode of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle—then admitted she eventually had to get herself “in check.”
The conversation began with a look at “wellness darties,” a growing trend on college campuses. Rather than drinking alcohol, students gather to work out, sip matcha and even take ice baths.
Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones were not entirely sold on the idea, joking that their version of college wellness involved trying not to order Taco Bell late at night.
Bush Hager, 44, attended the University of Texas at Austin, while Jones, 48, graduated from Northwestern University.
“I just want college students to have fun, because at some point, you’re gonna have a mortgage and you’re gonna have kids,” Bush Hager said.
“I feel like I didn’t do enough,” Jones replied.
Bush Hager said she felt the same way.
“I didn’t date enough, for sure, but by senior year I had joined a run club, and I ran half-marathons,” she said.
Jenna Bush Hager made a candid dating confession during Friday’s episode of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle before acknowledging that she eventually had to get herself “in check.”
Bush Hager attended the University of Texas at Austin, while Jones graduated from Northwestern University.
Bush Hager married her husband, Henry Hager, in 2008.
“By senior year, I was, like, ‘OK, Jenna, let’s get this in check,’” she recalled.
Jones then suggested that Bush Hager had already “lived” plenty before reaching her final year of college. A photo of Bush Hager as a young woman appeared on screen, showing her in a sequin snakeskin top.
“You can tell I’m from Texas,” Bush Hager joked.
Bush Hager has previously spoken publicly about her college years.
She attended UT Austin while her father, George W. Bush, was serving as president of the United States.
In a 2023 interview with People, she recalled that her father had “naively” promised her and her twin sister, Barbara, that they could lead “normal lives” while he was in the White House.
Bush Hager and Barbara were seniors at Austin High School in Texas when their Republican father faced Democrat Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election.
Jones noted that Bush Hager had clearly “lived” before becoming a college senior, as a younger photo showed her wearing a sequin snakeskin top.
In a 2023 interview with People, Bush Hager discussed her father’s “naive” promise that she and her twin sister, Barbara, could have “normal lives” during his presidency.
‘We were 18, and he knew how badly we wanted just to go to college and live normal lives,’ she recalled. ‘That was his promise to us: “Don’t worry. You can live normal lives.” Which ended up not being exactly true. We were maybe all slightly naïve, to be honest.’
When President Bush was sworn into office in 2001, she was a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, while her sister was at their dad’s alma mater, Yale University.
Bush Hager was so focused on her life in college that she ignored a call from actress Katie Holmes, who wanted help preparing for her role in the 2004 film First Daughter.
‘I was at the library and living a normal life as a college freshman,’ she explained. ‘I felt she would be disappointed with whatever she saw.’
In 2001, Bush Hager received a misdemeanor charge for possession of alcohol as a minor at a bar on Sixth Street in Austin.
That same year, she was cited again for using a fake ID at a Mexican restaurant. Her twin sister was also cited for underage alcohol possession.
She pleaded no contest to both charges.
