Additional Coverage:
- Jenna Bush Hager ‘started crying’ when she learned of dad George Bush’s secret engagement (irishstar.com)
Jenna Bush Hager recently shared a surprising family revelation on the Today show that left her both stunned and emotional. The 44-year-old host recounted how she discovered that her father, former President George W. Bush, had once been secretly engaged to another woman before marrying her mother, Laura Bush.
The story unfolded during a conversation with co-host Sheinelle Jones about canceled weddings. Jenna mentioned that her dad had called off a wedding when he was young.
The topic came up while Jenna was discussing a poor score she received on a third-grade math test, joking that perhaps her dad had struggled with math too. To prove otherwise, George showed her a keepsake box-an album made by Jenna’s grandmother-that included a wedding announcement with a woman’s name who wasn’t her mother.
“That moment caught me off guard,” Jenna admitted. “I started crying and made it about myself, as a third-grader does.”
The mysterious fiancée was Cathryn Lee Wolfman, to whom George Bush became engaged in 1967 while they were both in college-George at Yale and Cathryn at Rice University. Their engagement announcement appeared in the Houston Chronicle on January 1, 1967.
According to a statement from Bush’s office, the couple was “briefly” engaged but eventually drifted apart. A spokeswoman noted that George “thought the world of her” but that they went their separate ways.
A decade later, in 1977, George W. Bush married Laura, and the couple has been together ever since, raising twin daughters Jenna and Barbara Pierce Bush.
Reflecting on the revelation, Jenna remarked, “In my third-grade melodramatic way, I thought, good thing he called it off or we wouldn’t have been here.” She also praised her father’s ability to listen to himself and make difficult decisions.
This heartfelt glimpse into the Bush family’s history offers a rare look at a private chapter in the former president’s life-one that Jenna now appreciates with maturity and perspective.