Jenna Bush Hager has revealed that her high school boyfriend brutally dumped her after seeing her in a bathing suit, saying she still thinks about it to this day.
The Today star, 41, and her co-host Hoda Kotb, 58, reflected on the hurtful comments they’ve received over the years as they discussed Ariana Grande’s response to public criticism of her changing body at Wednesday’s show.
“I had a friend in seventh grade who broke up with me after we went swimming together, after he saw me in a bathing suit,” Bush Hager recalls.
“So I feel like even now, when I feel great, I have three kids, three C-sections, I really feel in my body, and I think of it as a beautiful thing, I walk in a pool and just have a like [gasps].
Jenna Bush Hager, 41, revealed on the Today show Wednesday that her high school boyfriend brutally dumped her after seeing her in a bathing suit
She and her co-host Hoda Kotb discussed the recent public scrutiny of Ariana Grande’s body when she shared the painful memory
“I had a friend in seventh grade who broke up with us after we went swimming together, after he saw me in a bathing suit,” recalls Bush Hager (pictured as a child)
“There have been times when we’ve done this show where people have written about us [bodies],” she added. “It takes you back to that moment.”
Bush Hager has been candid about how she struggled with her body image growing up, previously sharing how she found a fourth-grade diary entry in which she pledged to lose four pounds by January 1, 1991.
Her latest reflection comes three months after she shared that her late grandmother Barbara Bush told her she looked “chubby” in a bikini when she was a teen — only to apologize for the cutting comment years later.
“I remember the bikini color I wore, a yellow bikini color,” she explained in January. “I was lying next to my sister [Barbara Bush]and my grandmother, who I adored but had a bit of a caustic personality, said something like, “Oh, Jenna! Looks chubby.”
The former first daughter explained how her grandmother’s passing comment had influenced the way she saw herself in her formative years.
“I remember feeling like I wanted to hide in there,” she said.
Bush Hager (pictured with her daughter Mila) admitted that decades later she still thinks about that moment and sometimes gasps when she steps into a pool and the memory hits her
Bush Hager has been candid about how she struggled with her body image growing up, previously sharing how she found an entry in her fourth grade journal where she pledged to lose four pounds.
In January, Bush Hager (pictured with a friend before prom) shared that her grandmother Barbara Bush told her she looked “chubby” in a bikini when she was a teenager — only to apologize for the cutting comment years later
Bush Hager admitted that she didn’t wear a bikini for years after that, but she learned that later that her grandmother had projected her own insecurities onto her.
She shared how the former first lady later in life apologized to her by saying, “You know, when I said those things to you, I was talking to myself.”
After Bush Hager’s story about her seventh grade boyfriend, Kotb opened up about an exciting moment in her own life.
She recalled being shamed by her mother for adopting her daughters Haley, 6, and Hope, 4, when she was in her fifties.
‘I will never forget this. I had a letter addressed to me in someone’s handwriting to my house,” she told Bush Hager.
Kotb said the person wrote “something along the lines of, ‘How dare you bring a child into the world at your age. Don’t you know what you’re doing to that child?'”
‘It went on and on. It was breathtaking because that was actually my ouch,” she explained, saying her age was already something she was worried about.
After Bush Hager’s story about her seventh-grade boyfriend, Kotb opened up about her mother being embarrassed because she had adopted her 50-something daughters Haley, 6, and Hope, 4.
Kotb recalled how the person wrote her a letter saying, “How dare you give birth to a child at your age. Don’t you know what you’re doing to that child?’
Both Bush Hager and Kotb agreed that people should refrain from making comments, even if they think they are helpful, because you never know what someone is going through.
“When I read it I thought, ‘Someone took a pen and sat down at a table and wrote that down and got a stamp and put it in the mail. This took care and time and research,” she noted.
What helped her move on from the moment was the memory of the memories she has of her father, who died when she was in college.
“I remember thinking, ‘We’ve got our parents for a while,'” she said. “I know the foundation he left behind. I know it was worth every second of that time, so I thought about that too.”
The Today stars’ discussion on Wednesday’s show was in response to 29-year-old Grande, who brushed off recent concerns about her appearance with fans pointing to her weight loss and suggesting that her face has changed over time .
The singer, who filmed the Wicked adaptation in London, responded in a video shared on TikTok saying she’s healthier than ever.
Both Bush Hager and Kotb agreed that people should refrain from making comments, even if they think they are helpful, because you never know what someone is going through.
“We need to stop commenting on women’s bodies. Period of time. You worded it perfectly. We are in our body. We know,” Bush Hager said.
‘I walk around in my body. You don’t have to tell me what I already know,” Kotb added. ‘I live here. This is me.’