Barbara Pierce Bush joined fraternal twin sister Jenna Bush Hager on TODAY Tuesday, where the Sisters First authors and former first daughters revealed exactly what their parents did to make them so inseparable—and it’s a lesson all parents should note.
“They never compared us,” Bush Hager told co-anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb of their parents George W. Bush and Laura Bush.
Pierce Bush concurred, “They really encouraged us to be who we were and be good at what we wanted to be good at and pursue individuality in that way.”
The twins hosted several pairs of sisters for a reading their new children’s book Sisters First, including Bush Hager’s own daughters, Mila and Poppy, where the tykes each gushed about what they loved about their own siblings. The segment left Bush Hager visibly moved at the demonstration of what she explained is the universal love between sisters.
“That type of love, I think, is inherent,” Bush Hager said, jokingly adding of her and Pierce Bush’s bond, “I mean, that’s how we are born. We loved each from the moment—did we chase each other around the house with a baseball bat? I might have! But that love was still there.”
Bush Hager said that being encouraged to embrace themselves as individuals is what made them closer as a collective.
“When I was applying to college, I was like, ‘Dad, look what I found on this brochure! I can go to Stanford! If Barbara gets in, they have a twin policy—they’ll let me in!’ And my dad was like, ‘Do not ruin her chances,” Bush Hager recalled laughing.
Don’t get her wrong, Bush Hager said the former president and first lady “made us feel like even though I didn’t have a perfect math SAT, I was still worthy of their love.” She added that her sister made her feel that way, too.
Related: Jenna Bush Hager Returns to Today: Watch Hoda Kotb’s Moving Speech and Their Scavenger Hunt!
Pierce Bush said that Bush Hager’s daughters, Mila and Poppy, served as their muses for the new book. Bush Hager recalled one particular incident that really drove home how sisters can truly champion one another, even if one is still in diapers.
“When Poppy was born, Mila said, ‘Mommy, Poppy’s gonna rule the world.’ I loved that she wasn’t comparing, and I thought for a second, ‘You know, maybe she could! Maybe Poppy could be president,'” she said, invoking the Bush family legacy. That is, until Mila had a sad realization that’s too real for most girls: She told Bush Hager, “‘But Mom, all presidents are men.’ First, my heart broke and I got enraged at Henry because he was sitting there and he was a man,” Bush Hager cracked. “And then I was like, ‘We have to get her enrolled in gifted and talented! She’s a genius!'”
She added, “We want that for all sisters, no matter who they are or where they’re born: You want to feel that somebody thinks you’re good enough to do whatever you want to do.”
Related: Jenna Bush Hager Couldn’t Wait to Get Out of the House with “Sweet” Baby Hal: “Life Is Wilder”
In the third hour of TODAY, the sisters expounded on sisterhood, recalling pretending to be a family of cats as kids and dishing on how their relationship has evolved over time.
“We were so lucky because we were born with a partner, being twins,” Pierce Bush said.
That partnership hasn’t changed much despite each sister starting their own families: Bush Hager married husband Henry in 2008 and welcomed their third child, son Hal, in August. Pierce Bush married Craig Coyne last October.
“I think it stayed pretty much the same,” Bush Hager said of her and her sister’s bond post-marriage and kids. “It evolved in that we shared, maybe deeper things.”
Pierce Bush quipped, “I have more fun when Jenna’s around, so I like being around her.”
Pierce Bush’s compliment toward Bush Hager drove home what the TODAY host, newly returned from maternity leave, said sisterhood means: “Sisterhood means making the women around you feel brave and confident.”
Can’t get enough of the Bush sisters’ bond? Check out how close they really are.
Thanks for reading Jenna Bush Hager, Barbara Pierce Bush Talk 'Sisters First' on TODAY Show - Parade. Please share...!
0 Comment for "Jenna Bush Hager, Barbara Pierce Bush Talk 'Sisters First' on TODAY Show - Parade"