NEWSJenna Bush Hager 'Kept Prank Calling' George H.W. Bush's Office With Twin Sister Barbara When They Were 5: 'My Parents Were So Mad at Us'
Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush's parents were 'so mad' when they learned of their daughters' escapades.
July 8 2026, Published 3:22 p.m. ET
Jenna Bush Hager recalled getting in trouble at just 5 years old for repeatedly prank-calling the vice president of the United States with her twin sister.
Bush Hager revealed the hilarious childhood anecdote on the Wednesday, July 8, episode of TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle while discussing prank-calling in the 1980s with her co-host Sheinelle Jones.
"Prank calling is so fun," Bush Hager recalled, before revealing how the gag got her into trouble.
Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush repeatedly called their grandfather's office.
Bush Hager revealed that the "first time" she almost got spanked as a child was due to a rampant prank-calling scheme with her twin sister, Barbara Bush.
"I didn't get [spanked], but I was very close," she explained. "Barbara and I, we were 5, and we kept prank calling the vice president's office. And we were like 'Where's the president?'"
The president, at the time, would have been Ronald Reagan, for whom their grandfather, George H.W. Bush, served as vice president for from 1981 to 1989.
'I Don't Know How We Got the Number'
Jenna Bush Hager said her parents were 'so mad' when they realized what their daughters had been up to.
"And my parents came home and we were actually at a friend's house... and I don't know how we got the number," Jenna added.
Her father, George W. Bush, and mother, Laura Bush, were livid when they discovered what the mischievous twins had been up to.
"My parents were so mad at us," Jenna recalled. "We kept calling my grandpa's office over and over and over again, being like 'Where's the president?' and hanging up."
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'That Beats My Pizza Hut'
Sheinelle Jones said Jenna Bush Hager's prank call story totally beat her own.
Her childhood escapades reduced Sheinelle to a laughing fit.
"That beats my Pizza Hut," Jones responded.
Sheinelle revealed that she, too, loved to make prank calls as a kid, often pretending to order a pizza as a gag.
"If I hadn't done any prank calls, then I hadn't lived," she quipped. "I had a childhood. Especially because we didn't have cell phones, we didn't have entertainment, so all we had was our imaginations."
Sheinelle Jones recalled reprimanding her children for making prank calls.
However, Sheinelle confessed she's caught her kids doing the same thing and immediately put a stop to it.
"I caught my kids doing that once, and I was like, 'Guys, you can't,'" she said. "These days..."
She gave the camera a knowing look before she and Jenna moved on with their segment.
Sheinelle has three teenage children whom she shared with her late husband, Uche Ojeh. The couple welcomed Kayin in 2009 and fraternal twins Clara and Uche Jr. in 2012.
