Hope Sloop
Jenna Bush Hager says she was once mistaken for Hulk Hogan’s daughter, Brooke Hogan, during an interaction with a fan.
During a special edition of “Spilling the E-Tea” with Jenna and Hoda Kotb, the 42-year-old media personality and mom of three shared that she was taken aback while attending a football game where one fan confused her for Brooke, 35.
“Well, once I was mistaken for — I was at a Giants game and the person behind me goes, ‘You look just like the daughter of–‘ and I was like, ‘Here it comes…'” she said, thinking the person would say her own father, former U.S. President George W. Bush. “‘…Hulk Hogan.'”
She adds, “And it surprised me. I don’t know Hulk Hogan’s daughter’s name but it caught me by surprise.”
The hilarious reveal came as the Today co-hosts interviewed each other and quizzed their fellow co-hosts on everything from their favorite guests over the years to their first impressions of the other person.
The special edition of the series is part of Today with Hoda and Jenna‘s New Orleans celebration of five years on air together.
During their candid sit-down, Hoda, 59, shared her own celebrity doppelgänger as well — or at least someone she gets confused for when out in public.
“I’m often mistaken for Gayle King,” the journalist said. “It happens all the time — in the airports, ‘How’s your best friend, Oprah? How’s Stedman? Oh my gosh, I love your grandbaby.'”
Jenna first started the Read With Jenna book club on the Today show in March 2019 and was quickly ushered into a bigger role with the long-running NBC morning show, being offered the role of Hoda’s co-host for the fourth hour just one month later. At the time, she took over for Hoda’s long-time partner on the small screen, Kathie Lee Gifford.
Jenna had previously stepped in to temporarily fill in at the desk over the years after she was initially hired as a contributor with the show back in 2009.
At the time of her April 2019 appointment to the fourth-hour program with Hoda, Jenna was several months pregnant with her third child, Hal, whom she later gave birth to in August of that year.
When looking back on how far they have come in the half-decade they have worked closely alongside each other, the pair fought back tears while talking about their favorite parts of their five years of working together as co-hosts and 15 on the same network.
“I would say probably the favorite things are the little things,” Jenna told Hoda. “The days, sitting, chatting [during] the commercial breaks, the time we’ve just gotten to really get to know each other.”
“I agree, I agree,” responded Hoda.
As for what Hoda remembers about those very early days on the show together and if she recalls Jenna sharing the news that they would be deskmates, Hoda said she can picture the exact reaction and why she knew early on they were going to work well together.
“I thought that you were super excited — you were kinda scared, which I liked,” Hoda shared. “The thing that I remember the most about you on that day — and every day since — is you’re 100 percent yourself. You’re 100 percent yourself on day one and you’re 100 percent yourself times five years.”
RELATED CONTENT:
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings