At Home With Jenna Bush Hager
The morning-show host shows off her New York City living room—and highlights her passion for reading.
Books have always been a big part of Jenna Bush Hager’s life, so it’s fitting that a well-curated library is the focal point of the Today cohost’s New York City living room. Jenna, who’s an author herself (her latest, The Superpower Sisterhood, is a children’s book she coauthored with sister Barbara), says she inherited both a love of reading and a passion for design from her mom. “In another life she would have been an architect,” says Jenna of former First Lady Laura Bush.
When putting together her apartment’s decor, Jenna went for a mixture of practical handcrafted elements (the shelves were custom made for the space) and hand-me-downs from her stylish mother. “The midcentury Milo Baughman chairs were hers,” she says. Jenna, mom to Mila, 9, Poppy, 7, and Hal, 3, admits the kids love to swivel in them. “They have holes in them because children are very rough, so they will have to be re-covered,” she says. “But I love them and I think they add some femininity to the space.”
And though the room looks pristine, Jenna says it’s not without effort. “I spend my evenings cleaning before bed—that’s how dedicated I am to being organized. My best friend is my vacuum.”
1. “My mom was a librarian, and in most of our houses she’s always had a library ladder that she would truly use to get up and look for books. The kids love it—it’s my favorite part of our apartment.”
2. “One of the shelves opens up a hidden door that connects to my kids’ bedrooms—it’s really cool. It’s a magic pocket door that they can open and go into their rooms from the center of the house.”
3. “That’s a picture of my mom that her best friend, who was a photographer, took of her. I just love it because I feel like you can see in her eyes how much she adored the person who was taking the photo. It’s one of my prized pieces of art.”
4. “All of those are pieces of pottery that I’ve just collected through my travels over the years. The cross is Peruvian; I got it when I was working with UNICEF.”
Jenna is the co-host of NBC’s TODAY with Hoda & Jenna. She founded TODAY’s popular book club, #ReadWithJenna, which highlights debut and diverse authors. This year, Hager started her own production company, where she will take her love of books and stories and bring them to life by developing and producing projects for television and movies. She teamed up with #ReadWithJenna author, Jamie Ford, to executive produce and adapt his novel The Many Daughters of Afong Moy.
By Laura Morgan | Photograph courtesy of Jenna Bush Hager
This article originally appeared in the Holiday 2022 issue of Drew + Jonathan Reveal, Drew & Jonathan’s home and lifestyle magazine.
