On Today With Hoda & Jenna, Jenna Bush Hager reflected on a recent public appearance she made with her parents, Laura Bush and former President George W. Bush, that she claims turned into a “one hour roast” because of her father.
Bush Hager told Hoda Kotb all about the “great” weekend she had with her parents during their morning chat Monday (Sept. 23). “I was with my parents which is always really hilarious because of the dynamic,” she told Kotb. “First of all, my dad, any moderator that moderates him—”
“Who did moderate?” Kotb interrupted to ask.
“Me! I was the moderator!” Bush Hager responded. “I was the moderator and I would give some insight here or there when I felt like I could, but other than that, he’d be like, ‘Yeah, OK Jenna, why don’t you tell everybody about the time you were arrested?'”
As Kotb began to laugh, Bush Hager continued, “Oh yeah, one-hour roast. I would ask questions he would roast me a little, I would ask a question, slight roast. but it was fun and funny.”
As if it couldn’t get any more embarrassing, former President Barack Obama was also in attendance. Bush Hager said he offered some words of comfort to her after the talk.
“President Obama was there so we got to see him for a little bit,” she told Kotb. “And he was like, ‘How do you do that? Why do you come to do this?’ Because he must have seen some of the roasting. And he said, ‘This must be hard for you,’ and I said, ‘Yes it is.'”
Bush Hager has addressed the arrest several times on Today With Hoda & Jenna. During an episode in 2023, she told Kotb all about it, revealing that she was arrested at a Mexican restaurant in 2001 when she tried to buy alcohol with her sorority sister’s ID.
She told Kotb that the waitress called the cops because “she didn’t like my dad,” who was president at the time.
“To her credit, that was dumb. I mean, my dad was the president,” Bush Hager admitted.
She added, “Well, I didn’t actually go to jail, I just was arrested. 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.”
According to reports from that time, this marked Bush Hager’s second arrest for underaged drinking.
Today with Jenna and Hoda airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.