Jenna Bush Hager knows what it’s like when people label you based on past behavior. Luckily, she’s developed a powerful mindset to help her fend off the haters.
On Aug. 13, the TODAY with Jenna & Friends host opened up about the public’s perception of her “party girl” ways when she was younger.
The topic came up when Jenna and her guest co-host Erin Andrews discussed Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce’s new interview with GQ, where he revealed his desire to shed one element of his public persona.
โIโm starting to phase out of wanting to be known as the party guy,โ he said.
During the segment, Jenna took a moment to share some wisdom with viewers and Kelce directly.
โTravis, Iโll talk straight to you, my friend. I was also known as a party girl,โ she began. โSomebody asked me yesterday โ Iโm age 43 โ and they said, โHey Jenna, did you ever read that article about you at age 19?โโ
The mother of three added that she โdidnโt want to read about those thingsโ and said that itโs hard to change your reputation.
“Once a party girl or boy, always a party girl or boy. Sorry, Travis. Sorry, Travis, but it kind of follows you around like a chaser, you know? And you’ve got to just stick with it. And it doesn’t mean that’s all of who he is or all of who you are,” she said.
Jenna went on to share her “secret to life.”
“You can’t worry about how other people think of you,” she said.
Andrews couldn’t have agreed more.
“It’s not like your partying ways, personality, good-time vibe, has gotten in the way of your life,” she said.
“If people really knew who I was, they’d be wildly disappointed by my like 7:30 thumb-sucking,” she joked, adding, “That just means I go to bed early.”
Jenna said she tries to instill the same lesson in her daughters, Mila, 12, and Poppy, 10.
“People may see Travis as a party guy. Anybody that knows him knows that may be one element, but he’s a million different things. But the moment you stop worrying about how people see you is the moment you’re free,” she said.
Jenna went on to explain how she learned this important life lesson early on.
“The good news for me is all of that was really early, before I was even of legal drinking age. And therefore, it’s like in my 40s, I felt there was so much that happened young that now I just do not care unless it’s somebody that I love,” she said.
