


On Today With Hoda & Jenna, all roads eventually lead back to Camp Longhorn.
Hoda Kotb was praising Jenna Bush Hager today for her strong individuality when the Today host shared an embarrassing story from her camp days that showed just how unique she really is.
“Do you guys have a friend who doesn’t care what anyone thinks and just does what she wants? That’s you,” Kotb told Bush Hager. “You do your own thing. I think that is one of your greatest, greatest traits.”
The sweet compliment seemed to remind Bush Hager of a particularly memorable moment at her childhood summer camp, Camp Longhorn.
“When I went to Camp Longhorn, I liked drama and using my imagination. I would go into my backyard and make up stories and play by myself for hours,” she recalled. “So I did that at camp, and that first year, they were like, ‘Why isn’t she playing normal things? Like normal kids?’ And they did lock me out of the cabin naked. They locked me out naked in front of the boy’s water dock.”
The unbelievable story had Kotb cracking up as she asked her what she did next.
“Well, I wrote my mom a letter and I was like, ‘I have so many friends!’ And then I wrote her again and I was like, ‘The last letter was a lie,'” Bush Hager replied.
She continued, “I remember being kind of like a strange kid, but I don’t think I really cared. I don’t know that I cared.”
The Today co-host added that her parents never accused her of “embarrassing” them when she was growing up. “I was just a weird child,” she admitted.
Kotb replied, “You were weird. Love it.”
That’s not the first time Bush Hager has looked back on her childhood on Today. During a recent broadcast, she joked that her “childhood wounds” helped make her “funny.” She also pondered what would have came of her personality had she been born “the cutest little girl.”
Today with Jenna and Hoda airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.