Jenna Bush Hager shared a sweet snap of herself smiling in a sundress with straps while on vacation with husband Henry Hager, nearly two weeks after she revealed her late grandmother, Barbara Bush, told her that she looked “chubby” as a teenager.
The Today presenter, who recently moved to Connecticut with her family, posted a carousel of photos on Instagram Wednesday that chronicled her life recently, including her tropical beach vacation.
The first picture shows the 41-year-old snuggled up to her husband as they pose in front of palm trees and a hammock, with the sea visible beyond. Both have a smile on their face.
Jenna Bush Hager, 41, took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a carousel of pictures of her “recent life,” including a beach selfie she took with husband Henry Hager
The Hagers recently relocated to Connecticut, and another snap shows their nine-year-old daughter Mila eating soup outside on a warm winter’s day
Bush Hager wears what appears to be a cotton dress that ties at the shoulders, while Hager wears a white button-down shirt that is open at the collar.
It’s unclear when the vacation took place, but she posted snaps of a sand dollar and a man, believed to be her husband, walking on the beach.
Both images had the timestamp 1.16.’98, which confused the commenters. Some suggested they were throwback photos she included in the post after returning to the place with her family over two decades later. It is also possible that the camera did not set the correct date.
Between the beach shots was a candid snap of her nine-year-old daughter Mila eating soup outside on a warm winter’s day, followed by a close-up of her eldest child’s new kitten, Hollywood ‘Holly’ Hager.”
The family recently welcomed a new kitten, Hollywood “Holly” Hager
The post included other beach photos, including a shot of a man – believed to be her husband – walking on the beach
The images were timestamped 1.16.’98, which confused commenters. Some said these were throwback photos, but it’s also possible the camera didn’t set the correct date
The Hagers’ younger daughter, seven-year-old Poppy, and their only son, three-year-old Hal, did not appear in the Post.
“Living lately,” the mother-of-three wrote in the caption, adding a red heart emoji.
Earlier this month, Bush Hager opened up about her grandmother Barbara’s scathing comment about her body, for which she later apologized.
She recently spoke to her Today co-host Hoda Kotb about body image Consequence of the show as she reflected on a moment from her youth that negatively impacted her confidence.
Bush Hager and her husband also have a younger daughter, seven-year-old Poppy, and a son, three-year-old Hal
Earlier this month, the Today presenter opened up about what her late grandmother, Barbara Bush, called her “chubby” when she was a teenager
“I remember being a teenager. I remember the bikini color I wore, a yellow bikini color,” she said. “I was lying next to my sister [Barbara Bush]and my grandmother, who I adored but had a kind of biting personality, said something like, “Oh, Jenna! Looks chubby.”
Bush Hager recalled how her grandmother’s passing comment affected the way she saw herself in her formative years.
“I remember feeling like I wanted to hide in it,” she said.
Bush Hager only learned years later that her grandmother had projected her own insecurities onto her.
Bush Hager (pictured with her grandmother and twin sister Barbara in 2000) recalled wearing a yellow bikini and lying next to her sister at the time
“My grandmother, who I adored but had kind of a snappy personality, said something like, ‘Oh, Jenna! Looks chubby,” recalled Bush Hager (pictured with a friend before prom).
The former first lady had received similar comments from her own mother, Pauline Pierce, who often compared her to her older sister, Martha Pierce, according to her granddaughter.
“She later told me that her mother said things like that to her,” Bush explained to Hager.
“Her mother always thought her sister was the really beautiful one and said so. “Martha is the pretty one. you are the funny one you are the smart one Martha is this.
‘And so late [in] life, she said, “You know, when I told you these things, I was talking to myself.”
Bush Hager never forgot the scathing comment or how she felt at that moment. “I remember feeling like I wanted to hide in it,” she explained
Bush Hager said she only found out years later that her grandmother had projected her own insecurities onto her
The former first lady (center) had received similar comments from her own mother, Pauline Pierce (left), who often compared her to her older sister, Martha Pierce (right).
Bush Hager has been open about how she and her fraternal twin sister Barbara were constantly compared growing up, though she noted that her parents, George W. and Laura Bush, never did it to them.
The co-hosts agreed that certain looks and seemingly innocent comments from adults can affect a child’s body image.
“It’s interesting because I haven’t worn a bikini for years and last year after having three children, I had three c-sections [I did]’ said Bush Hager. ‘I did it because of you, because you don’t have that anymore.’
Kotb noted that she was raised by a mother who “never cared” about how she looked in a bathing suit and still wears a bikini to this day.
Bush Hager has spoken openly about how the outside world constantly compared her and her fraternal twin sister Barbara during their childhood
In 2016, Bush Hager found a fourth-grade journal entry in which she vowed to lose four pounds on January 1, 1991. “It broke my heart,” she admitted
“She says, ‘Of course I need sun,'” she said, mimicking her mother Sameha.
Back in 2016, Bush Hager was confronted with the realization that she had been into dieting and weight loss long before she was a teenager.
She explained on the Today Show that she was vacationing at the Bush family home in Texas when she found her diary.
After reading the entries, she was shocked to see that she had vowed to lose four pounds on January 1, 1991.
“It broke my heart,” she admitted. “And my sister told me she found it four years ago, but she never told me because it broke her heart.”