The Bush twins,Barbara Pierce BushandJenna Bush Hager, have always been close even as their lives have taken them in ever more different directions.
Meanwhile the outgoing Hager is soon to be a co-hostof theTodayshow’s famously frothy fourth hourafter several years as a correspondent (and before that a teacher in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore).
Speakingwith PEOPLE in this week’s issue, Hager admits to dealing with some feeling of inadequacy when she compares her career path to her twin and best friend, both 37.
“I always kind of belittle myself next to my sister, just because she’s saving the world and I’m drinking pinot grigio,” Hager says.
Jenna Bush Hager (left) and Barbara Pierce Bush.Jamie McCarthy/Getty
“Don’t be down on yourself. You bring joy to people,” Hager says Bush told her.
It’s a spirit she hopes to preserve when she joinsTodayas a co-host in April following the departure ofKathie Lee Gifford.
• For more on Hager’s new role with theTodayshow and updates on her family,subscribe now to PEOPLEor pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.
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“They have done that impeccably for 11 years,” Hager says of the 10 o’clock slot. “They have made people laugh, they have comforted people in moments of sadness. And I think that joy is so going to be there.”
Hager’s bond with her sister is the stuff of numerous anecdotes and interviews. In anat-home interview with PEOPLE in 2010, they talked about Bush coming to visit Hager in New York City when she traveled there from Baltimore for work.
Hager added: “We’re in the room, and I’ll be, ‘Can’t we read?’ And she’s like, ‘Nope. Is there aLaw & Orderon?’ ”
Speaking with PEOPLE, Hager’s husband, Henry, joked: “It’s funny, sometimes I do feel like I’m married to two women.”
source: people.com
