NEED TO KNOW
- Jenna Bush Hager recalled a middle school boyfriend breaking up with her over her birthmark
- To “reclaim” that time in her life, the Today with Jenna & Friends anchor showed the mark live on the air
- The circular birthmark is located on her right thigh
Jenna Bush Hager is opening up like never before.
On the Tuesday, May 20, episode of Today with Jenna & Friends, the 43-year-old anchor spoke with her guest co-host and longtime friend Savannah Guthrie about a painful part of her childhood.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this, but I had a boyfriend in the seventh grade who broke up with me,” she told Guthrie of her ex. “I have a birthmark, which you’ve seen because you’ve seen me in all sorts of areas. I had a boyfriend who broke up with me in the seventh grade when he saw me in my bathing suit because he saw my birthmark.”
Guthrie called the boyfriend’s actions “outrageous,” and Bush Hager admitted that the situation gave her a lot of childhood trauma.
NBC
“So then I ended up wearing — I had a rule where basically the shorts had to cover the birthmark,” she said of the mark, which is located on her right thigh.
Guthrie, who is godmother of Bush Hager’s son, Hal Hager, asked her she’d ever spoken about her birthmark on the air before.
“I’m not sure if anybody’s ever seen it,” Bush Hager admitted, before agreeing to show it live on air. “I can show it. Do ya’ll wanna see it? This is actually me reclaiming that time.”
Bush Hager lifted up her shorts to show off the circular mark, admitting, “Never thought I’d do that, but here we go.”
Guthrie praised her friend, adding, “Can I say something? Your legs look awesome. Gravity has not come for you.”
As the segment cut to commercial, Bush Hager added in an aside to Guthrie, “I can’t believe I just showed my birthmark on the air because it was kind of traumatic for me.”
NBC
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The daughter of former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush has long since moved on from her middle school ex. She married husband Henry Hager in 2008 and the couple share daughters Mila, 13, and Poppy, 9, and son Hal, 5.
The couple recently celebrated their 17-year wedding anniversary, and Bush Hager honored her husband in a sweet tribute.
Jenna Bush Hager/Instagram
“Been drying my tears for 17 years yesterday,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories alongside a photograph from the couple’s wedding day, which showed Henry, 47, wiping away her eyes as they exchanged vows at the altar.