Jenna Bush Hager broke down in tears on Wednesday morning as she opened up about some of the final moments she spent with her grandfather George H. W. Bush and the heartwarming advice he gave her.
During the latest episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna, the 42-year-old and her cohost, Hoda Kotb, were discussing the trailer for the new Hulu documentary Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge, when Jenna said some of the designer’s comments made her think of her late grandfather.
‘Watching that, it reminded me of this evening I spent with my grandpa, and he could barely speak, and I was sitting between him and he leaned over to me and he’s like, “Don’t forget to enjoy the game,”‘ Jenna recalled.
‘And it was at the end of his life, sort of the beginning of mine, and to hear somebody that had done everything be like, “Don’t forget to like be in it, to enjoy it, to be a part of it,” I’ll never forget it,’ the mother-of-three continued with tears in her eyes.
‘It’s what I want to tell all of us,’ she said, as Hoda butted in: ‘While we are in the middle of it right now!’ as Jenna continued: ‘And the middle of it is hard, right? And there’s tedious moments, but I think what we’ve got to do is… that tediousness is the beauty.’
Jenna Bush Hager broke down in tears on Wednesday as she opened up about some of her final moments with her grandfather George H.W. Bush
Jenna and her twin sister, Barbara, pictured with their grandfather, who passed away in November 2018
Hoda, 59, was also tearing up as she told Jenna: ‘What great advice from him, because you always wonder, at the end, what are you saying, like after you’ve lived a whole life…,’ as Jenna divulged: ‘He also wrote us the most beautiful letters when he was in his seventies, eighties, about being together.’
‘About how all he wanted was us to come home, and that was what brought him the most joy, was to be surrounded by his grandkids and his family,’ the blonde star said tearfully as she tried to compose herself.
As the pair moved the conversation on, Hoda was keen to praise her cohost and told her: ‘That was really beautiful what you said. That was really, really beautiful what you said.’
It’s not the first time that Jenna has become emotional whilst discussing the former President, who passed away in November 2018 at the age of 94.
During an episode of Today in June 2020, Jenna opened up about the rules her grandfather lived by and the nuggets of wisdom he had shared with her.
‘He had this little list of rules that he lived by. They’re all really good ones like, “Don’t talk all the time”,’ she said. ‘”Listen to your mentors and friends and learn from them.” I actually have them memorized, which is kind of weird,’ she told Hoda.
‘”Nobody likes an overbearing big shot,” which sounds so much like his words,’ she noted as her eyes welled up with tears.
‘”Help a friend when they’re hurting.”
The mother-of-three struggled to compose herself as she recalled a conversation she had with her grandfather
Jenna and her sister Barbara with their father George W. Bush and his father
‘One of them, which I obviously listen to a lot, is “it’s okay to cry when life takes a bad turn or when a friend hurts.”‘
Jenna also revealed that her grandfather had enjoyed having spirited discussions filled with agreements and disagreements, whether he was talking to ‘friends or “political enemies” who became friends.’
