Jenna Bush Hager is proud of her southern heritage, but she was a little perplexed by one gift she received from her home state during her pregnancies.
“You know that somebody actually sent my mom Texas dirt to be put under the bed when I delivered my children so that they could be born on Texas soil in New York City?” Bush Hager, 41, told Today cohost Hoda Kotb on the Friday, September 15, episode of the NBC morning show.
Judging by Bush Hager’s wide-eyed recollection, southern dirt wasn’t one of the gifts on her baby registry.
She shares daughters Mila, 10, and Poppy, 8, and son Hal, 4, with husband Henry Hager, whom she married in 2008. Though they are raising their kids in the northeast, Bush Hager sends her kids to Texas for summer camp so they can get a taste of her home state. The TV personality was born in Dallas and spent much of her childhood in Austin before moving into to Washington, D.C., at age 19 when her father, George W. Bush, became president.
While her kids aren’t spending all their time in the Lone Star State, she knows they’re getting familiar with the Texas twang.
“They do have southern accents because once I start to have a margarita and put on some Willie Nelson, I’m a whole new person,” Bush Hager joked.
She continued, “I’m just gonna put a little recording in their ears when they sleep — not in their ears because I’d hate to damage them — [that says] ‘y’all, y’all, y’all.’”
Bush Hager revealed last month that Mila “loves” going to Texas for summer camp. After the 10-year-old returned from her three-week trip in July, the former first daughter gushed over reuniting with her little one. “It’s worth sending your kid to camp just so you can get them back,” she said on Today With Hoda and Jenna.
She added that Mila was one of the only kids from outside the area, but she’s one of several second-generation children at the camp. Bush Hager enjoyed the same summer programming when she was growing up and several of her peers send their children every year.
“She’s probably one of the only kids from the Northeast — it’s a lot of Texans. It’s really hot, no air conditioning, but she loves it,” Bush Hager explained. “It’s so fun to go see her and feel that independence. It is, like, sleepaway camp is a right of passage.”
