Jenna Bush Hager Tip-Toes Around Insulting Late Grandma Barbara Bush's Signature Pearls: She 'Might Strike Me Down'

Jenna Bush Hager was extra careful not to insult her late grandmother, Barbara Bush.

During the Monday, August 18, episode of TODAY With Jenna & Friends, the talk show host, 43, was hyperaware of how she spoke about her family member's signature pearls.

Bush Hager and guest co-host Savannah Guthrie mused over a new trend where pearl earrings render women "undatable."

"You are from an iconic group of pearl-wearing women, such as Barbara Bush, the original," Guthrie, 53, pointed out.

"I feel a little bit bad even discussing this because I feel like my grandmother, up there in the high heavens, might strike me down," Bush Hager worried.

"She would, too!" Guthrie exclaimed.

The mom-of-three explained how Bush's pearls made her seem "lovely" and "attractive," and her grandfather, George H.W. Bush, was "very much into her."

"With all due [respect] to Mrs. Bush, may the Lord rest her soul. Don't strike me down, Mrs. Bush, because you know I love y'all. That was more like a pearl necklace situation and pearl earrings are more of a modern take," Savannah said. "I don't think they have to be stuffy."

Jenna agreed, adding that even multiple piercings make someone look "cool" and "unique."

"I know a lot of young women that wear pearl earrings, and I find them to be datable and lovely," she emphasized.

"They're not my favorite," Savannah admitted, then quickly realized she may have insulted Barbara.

"She's coming for you! You better be careful," Jenna joked.

The talk show host further mused over her family during the Monday, August 11, episode of Today. Jenna admitted that when her father, George W. Bush, was president, she got arrested twice.

"I was arrested! There’s a mugshot that says I didn’t get away with it," she quipped.

The media personality was caught in possession of alcohol as a minor in Texas in April 2001. One month later, she was once again placed in handcuffs for using a fake ID to purchase drinks.

In 2023, Jenna further detailed how she nearly got locked up in a jail cell.

"I didn’t actually go to jail, I just was arrested," she told Hoda Kotb at the time. "I wasn’t even arrested. I was never detained. I just got a minor in possession of alcohol when I was 20 years old because I ordered a margarita at Chuy’s with a fake ID."

The waitress at the restaurant allegedly called the police because she didn't like her father.

"To her credit, that was dumb," Jenna said. "I mean, my dad was the president."