‘Beyond Gross’: ‘Today’ Host Jenna Bush Hager Faces Backlash for Telling Her 5-Year-Old Son to Call Her His ‘Girlfriend’ and Admitting She Gets Mad When He Doesn’t
Jenna Bush Hager, one of the fraternal twins of former United States President George W. Bush has found herself in the hot seat after an ongoing joke about her young child led to backlash online.
On the Tuesday episode of NBC’s “Today with Hoda & Jenna” weekday morning program, she and co-host Hoda Kotb had a conversation about Jenna’s 5-year-old son, Hal.
“He says things that are kinda rude, like ‘I’m not his girlfriend,” Bush Hager stated before Kotb asked, “How did this girlfriend thing even begin?”
Jenna responded, “I just heard [‘Today’ producer Gavin Shulman] yell, ‘You’re not.’ I know but it’s a thing I like to do, OK?”
She continued, “I like to say, ‘I love you so much. I’m your girlfriend.’ And I like him to say, ‘Yeah, Mommy’s my girlfriend.’ OK? I know I have major issues.”
Page Six reposted a clip of Bush Hager’s remarks from the “Today with Hoda & Jenna” show to the outlet’s Instagram page.
The celebrity gossip publication’s comment section featured numerous negative reactions aimed at the news personality, including some who felt her remarks were “beyond gross.”
“I hope there is a therapist on speed dial for that kid,” one Instagram user wrote. Another person said, “These are the thoughts you keep in your head girl. Not share for the world to hear lol.”
Another critic suggested government agencies such as child protective services should get involved, writing, “Someone call CPS.”
One Jenna defender posted, “When my son was a toddler he said I was his girlfriend. It’s not unusual. It’s sweet. Don’t read more into it.”
A response to that comment read, “But that’s the child, they don’t know any better. She is his MOTHER, an adult, who should be taking on a mom role, not a girlfriend role??? Sick.”
Jenna met her future husband, Henry Hager, while he was working on her father’s 2004 presidential re-election campaign. They married on May 10, 2008, at her parents’ Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas.
They welcomed their first child, Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager, in April 2013, and a second daughter, Poppy Louise Hager, in Augustt 2015.
Jenna and Henry’s first son, Harold “Hal” Hager, entered the world in August 2019 via a cesarean section delivery.
“I had Hal for an hour, and my sister arrived with tacos and doughnuts, and the nurse said I wasn’t allowed to eat breakfast tacos and doughnuts” Jenna recalled on “Today with Hoda & Jenna” in 2023.
The University of Texas graduate also explained, “I wasn’t allowed to eat yet because I’d had a C-section.”
Jenna Bush Hager is the daughter of the 43rd president and former first lady Laura Bush.
She is also the granddaughter of the 41st President George H. W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush. Jenna has a twin sister also named Barbara Bush.
Jenna Bush Hager joined “Today” in 2019. She replaced longtime television presenter Kathie Lee Gifford on the 16-year-old daytime broadcast once titled “Today with Kathie Lee and Hoda.”