Jenna Bush Hager Turned Down Working at 'Today' for Years Until Famous Grandparents Encouraged Her to 'Take the Meeting'

Jenna Bush Hager almost didn’t have a job at Today.

During the Thursday, May 21, episode of TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle, the host, 44, revealed her grandparents George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush were the ones who pushed her to give it a chance.

“I love that we have these people in our lives who know us better than we know ourselves…” Jenna expressed. “When I got offered to work at The Today Show, I was a teacher, and I loved it. For years, I said ‘no’ to even taking a meeting. I was like, ‘No, no. I’m working. I really like my job. No, thank you.’”

The mom-of-three then acknowledged how difficult “teaching in marginalized areas” was and began to think about meeting with the person who reached out to her.

“I had the summer off, and I was by myself, with my grandparents, and I said, ‘The Today Show keeps calling and asking me to take the meeting,’” she recalled. “And my grandmother said, ‘You always take the meeting. I don’t know why you said no for two years, but you always take that meeting.’ I think hearing that from her, somebody who I admired so much, I was like, ‘What am I doing? Always take the meeting.’”

Jenna, George and Barbara then turned on the television program.

“My grandpa goes, ‘Do you watch it?’ I go, ‘No. I go to school at 6:30 in the morning,’” she recounted. “He said, ‘Let’s watch it.’ And the three of us sat and watched it together.”

Jenna joined Today as a contributing correspondent in August 2009 and became a full-time co-host of the fourth hour alongside Hoda Kotb in April 2019. In January 2025, she ran her own show, TODAY With Jenna & Friends, before Sheinelle Jones became her permanent co-host in January 2026.

Jenna’s recent musings on her start at Today come after she teased potentially leaving the franchise.

In August 2025, she considered retiring and moving back to her hometown in Texas.

"I have this sort of dream — I just think everybody should have chapters in their lives — I have a dream — I don’t know how realistic it is — but when the Jenna & Friends chapter comes to a close…" she said during the August 6, 2025, episode of TODAY With Jenna & Friends.

"Well, why would that ever happen?" guest co-host Matt Rogers interrupted.

"Well... linear television, baby!" she exclaimed. "Who knows? But when I’m ready to go to my next chapter, I think it would be so nice to move back to Texas and let my kids — I went to a big public high school — have a different life."