Between living in the White House and becoming a beloved host of TODAY, Jenna Bush Hager has spent most of her life in the public eye. And through the years in the spotlight, it’s always been so obvious that the mom of three shares a very close and meaningful bond with her father, George W. Bush.

From simple but impactful text messages during a tough workday to walking her down the aisle at her wedding, the former president has always been there for his daughter. Read on to look back at some of their sweetest father-daughter moments together.

Jenna Bush Hager shares the text her dad sent her to remind her “what matters” most

Jenna Bush Hager and George W. Bush appear on TODAY on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Photo: Nathan Congleton/NBC

In February 2023, Jenna told her former TODAY co-host Hoda Kotb about a time she’ll “never forget” that her dad got her out of a funk shortly after the birth of her first child, daughter Mila.

“I’ll never forget when I was working here, I was doing something and I was kind of frustrated because jobs can be frustrating. This business is kind of tricky and I was upset,” she shared, adding that she had talked to her mom about what was bothering her the night before.

“So I got a text from my dad that was like, ‘Mom tells me you’re feeling kind of bummed out. Here’s the thing, this is what matters.’ And he just sent me a baby picture of Mila, I had just become a mom,” she continued. “And I started weeping. I was like, ‘He’s totally right.’”

Jenna Bush Hager says her dad has the “biggest potty mouth” in the family

The former president might’ve “turned red” with embarrassment when one of his daughter’s high school boyfriends called him “Big George,” but he’s not always prim and proper. In fact, Jenna and her twin sister, Barbara Pierce Bush, revealed to Access Hollywood in March 2025 that their dad has “the biggest potty mouth” in the family.

And that might not be a total surprise to some as President Bush had been caught cursing a few times during his time in the White House.

George W. Bush drove his daughter to her wedding in his pickup truck

When Jenna married her husband, Henry Hager, on May 10, 2008 at Bush family’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, she and her father arrived in style.

“I think my dad picked me up in a pickup truck — in his pickup truck,” Jenna shared on TODAY in 2021, adding that she and her father became emotional when he walked her down the aisle. “He said, ‘You look beautiful, baby,’ and then we both just wept up and down. I remember seeing Henry clearly, standing there at this cross that my dad had helped build for us.”

After the ceremony, the then-president shared in a 2008 press conference that it was a “spectacular” wedding. “Our little girl, Jenna, married a really good guy, Henry Hager,” he said at the time. “The wedding was spectacular. It’s just — it’s all we could have hoped for. The weather cooperated nicely. Just as the vows were exchanged, the sun set over our lake and it was just a special day and a wonderful day and we’re mighty blessed.”

George W. Bush gave Henry Hager his blessing to propose to his daughter in the chillest way

Before Henry popped the big question on top of Cadillac Mountain in Maine in August 2007, he secured some time on the president’s schedule to ask him for permission to marry his daughter. And while the future groom was stressing over this conversation and even prepped a “seven-point plan,” Mr. Bush calmed his nerves and happily gave him his blessing.

“My dad goes, ‘Henry, I said yes. You don’t need to go through anything else. Laura, Henry’s proposing,’ and that was that,” Jenna revealed in 2023 on TODAY about her husband’s proposal. “Good thing he did it.”

Jenna Bush Hager’s dad taught her to be resilient and brush off the small stuff

In a March 2022 episode of TODAY, Jenna opened up about how she’s looked back at moments from her own childhood as she teaches her children about how to cope with rejection or hurtful comments.

“I watched as my parents took on stuff and would say to us, ‘Baby, it didn’t matter. We know we’re not like that. We know we’re not that person,'” she recalled, going on to share a specific moment when she and her sister saw a bumper sticker about their dad.

“We were like, ‘Dad, we saw the best bumper sticker. It said, ‘A village in Texas is missing its idiot!’ and he laughed hysterically because he knows who he is,” she shared.

And his laidback sense of humor seems to have been passed down to his daughter as Jenna shared on TODAY in March 2024 that “gently roasting” her dad is her “love language.”

“I like to harass my dad. Like when he was the president, Barbara and I would show him … like the Saturday Night Lives where they made fun of him and stuff. He loved it!” she said. “If you’re going to be the President of the United States, people are going to make fun of you. And guess what — it ain’t just about you. That’s how it is, man.”

Jenna Bush Hager says her dad “embarrasses” her

When former President Bush quickly went viral at President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025 for his hilarious facial expressions and other funny moments caught on camera, Jenna was not at all surprised.

“He goes viral for basically anything,” Jenna told TODAY guest co-host Scarlett Johansson at the time. “He didn’t do anything, that’s what his face looks like. That’s his face. I mean, he raised his eyebrows and went viral. It shows, like, he actually was very well-behaved.”

And because he goes viral for just about anything, Jenna had warned him to “keep it cool” when he attended President Jimmy Carter’s funeral earlier in January 2025. “My dad embarrasses me, I have to be honest,” Jenna told TODAY’s guest host Taraji P. Henson in January 2025. “And sometimes, I’ll say to him, like, ‘Dad, the attention is gonna be on you — try to just keep it cool.’”

Jenna then pointed out how her dad was spotted giving President Barack Obama a “little man tap” as he arrived at the presidential funeral. “I’m like, ‘Dad, something like that … just put out your hand,” she said on TODAY. “I guess they’re bros?”

Jenna Bush Hager says her dad raised her to feel like she could “do anything”

While she and her sister spent most of their childhood in the spotlight and their father had a very demanding political career, Jenna shared on TODAY in January 2025 that President Bush was always a “present” dad.

“He was present, he was paying attention to us,” she said. “And he made us feel like we could do anything.”

In March 2025, Jenna also commended her parents for giving her and Barbara “the freedom to make mistakes” while they were growing up, even though she admitted they were “sometimes wild.”

“We didn’t feel any pressure to be anything but us, which is such a great gift, especially when you’re that age,” Jenna said on TODAY. “You have to make mistakes to grow.”