We were in first grade, and we went to D.C.
for our grandfather's inauguration,
and we didn't know that that was abnormal.
I thought that every grandfather was President.
I thought it was this title that you got when you were a grandfather,
and I got back to school and I asked my friend in first grade
when her grandfather's inauguration was,
because I was so excited to go to what I thought were so many more.
I was so upset, actually, that I went home and journaled about this.
- Hi, I'm Sasha. - I'm Marisa.
- I'm Nai'a. - And I'm Nanea.
- And today... - We're gonna be interviewing
- another set of twins, Jenna... - And Barbara...
Bush.
( theme music playing )
- Hi, guys. - Hi.
- Nice to meet you. - I'm Sasha.
We'd love to be in a sister book club.
- ( all laugh ) - I know, right?
Nanea: Best book club to have.
As you know, "BookTube" is a vibrant community
of people who come to YouTube to share their love of reading
and books, and we're very excited today
to have a special sisters episode
with Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush
to discuss your children's book
and bestselling book "Sisters First."
I know my sister Nanea is dying to ask the first question,
- so I'll let her go ahead. - It's truly an honor meeting both of you.
I really enjoyed reading your book.
I related to the stories on a personal level
as a young woman and as a sister.
Growing up, my sister and I were put into categories--
I was the athletic one and she was the academic one--
and I know a lot of sisters experience this.
Do you guys relate to that at all?
Well-- we know what it feels like
for people to think, like, "Oh, you're this way."
It's funny how, I think especially with twins--
y'all are twins-- are y'all twins?
- We are twins. Fraternal. - Fraternal twins.
You'll feel some of this,
but that you have to be the inverse of each other.
That one has to be one way and the other one should therefore be the opposite.
So even now people will say to me, like,
"Oh, aren't you the loud one and she's the quiet one?"
And I'm like, "You don't really know her at-- at all."
Or somebody literally said this to me on the book tour,
which is kind of rude, they were like, "So, she's the smart one."
- Which I'm like... - ( all groan )
Yeah, it always bothered me, actually,
because I didn't like the idea that we had to be opposites of each other
because we're so close in many ways,
and it just seemed like it simplified myself
or simplified Jenna in ways that took away
the sort of beautiful facets of who she is and who I am.
That's one of the reasons why we wrote this book, too,
is that we witnessed this love in all sisterhood,
whether you're blood sisters or friends or colleagues.
We believe in women who are lifting other women up.
I have a six and a four-year-old, and Mila, my oldest,
helps her little sissy Poppy with her handwriting,
which is very cute.
And one time Poppy was a tiny baby, and Mila said,
"Mommy, one day, my sissy is gonna rule the world."
- It's actually-- it's in our children's book. - It's in this book now.
So, a lot of the inspiration came from your own children.
Yeah, I was like, "Well, maybe one day she can be President."
She was like, "Mom, no. Presidents are all men."
Like, first, I, like, elbowed my husband.
He's like, "What, just 'cause I'm a man?"
And then I was like, "We have to put her in talented and gifted.
- She's brilliant." - She's a genius!
"She knows all the presidents,"
and then, you know, my husband was like,
"No, she knows two presidents."
Okay, so, while you both are totally relatable and down to Earth,
we can't forget that your grandfather and your father
are former Presidents of the Untied States of America.
As I know, Barbara, you mentioned that you thought
every grandfather went through inauguration,
so when did you kind of think that that wasn't normal?
I think then I didn't get it, still, what was going on,
but I did realize that not everyone's grandfather
was in the same position, probably.
But I think it also speaks a lot to our grandfather.
You know, this was before smart phones,
so he wasn't, like, on Twitter when he was hanging out with us.
He was paying attention to us.
He was pushing us in a swing and asking us about our day.
- Barbara: And so present. - So it spoke to his humility,
and, really, his priorities,
which family was his north star.
And I think that's a model that we lose more and more of,
which is the humility and goodness.
And I'm very curious as well.
I know you share a lot of stories about your family.
Did they have any input after you wrote everything,
or did you kind of just stick with your own perspective on each of the memories?
Pretty much. I mean, no one really offered input,
but our dad did edit it with us, which was great.
Took us back to 7th grade.
Yeah, it was like-- he was going word for word.
He doesn't think you should use extra words,
so he was going word for word through the book with us.
Which was really nice. It was sort of painful, but it was great.
Our-- my grandmother-- our grandmother, was who I was most nervous to show it to.
She's no passed away, but she read it before she died,
and in the book I write about this letter that she wrote me.
Oh, I remember this story.
I was in a tennis match--
which, I heard you're a tennis player.
I'm not as good as you are.
So, I was losing, so I kind of put on this show
and I was trying to be funny and make people laugh.
She was making everyone that was watching laugh.
- Trying to. - And, like, doing the worm.
My grandmother believed in good sportsmanship.
And so, if you saw some of my moves, you might think I was being a bad sport.
So she wrote me a letter that said, "You were a bad sport," blah, blah, blah.
And then at the end it said, like, "P.S., don't tell anybody about this letter."
- And then she published it. - And then I published it.
So we were with her one summer and she's like,
"Do you have a copy of the galley of your book? I want to read it."
And I was like, "No," even though I did,
'cause I was too scared. I wanted to go home,
come back to New York first, let her read it.
She would read it, but we would not be there.
Because we did write our truths,
which they could've been not happy about.
- But she loved it, luckily. - But she loved it.
So, in the book, you guys lay out your emotions of different memories,
from childhood all the way to adulthood.
What was the process of writing the book like for you?
Well, it was pretty fun because we would brainstorm before we started writing
about the stories that we wanted to include.
And so we'd go on long walks on the Westside Highway
in New York or go hiking
and talk about different memories that we both had,
and fill in the details of each other's memories.
Mm-hmm, and I think on those walks,
we talked about what we knew needed to be included,
like what memories really felt raw and fresh
and like something that really impacted the rest of our lives,
- and then who should write them. - Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and since it covers such a broad space of time,
how did you decide what stayed in and what was kept out?
Well, I think we chose the experiences and stories
that have really shaped our life,
and I think it's pretty fun to write from a distance,
actually, especially about memories that might be hard or challenging.
When you have time to look back on them, you see those experiences differently,
and so for us it was pretty important to be vulnerable
and to share both hard things and very positive things.
We didn't want to shy away from including things that were painful.
So, Jenna, you talk about your miscarriage
and having the fear of maybe not getting pregnant afterwards.
And, Barbara, you went through an awful, awful experience
with losing your boyfriend at a very young age to suicide.
So I wanted to ask you guys, were you scared
to be so raw and share such intimate stories?
Well, I definitely was.
I had-- the chapter about the former boyfriend's suicide,
that was the first chapter I wrote,
and then I actually asked the publisher not to include it
because I was really uncertain about publishing it.
But I ended up speaking with his family,
who were incredibly supportive, and I think, for them--
he had passed away when I was 17 and he was 17,
so this was, you know, almost--
a little bit less than 20 years later,
and so it was nice to be able to reconnect with them.
But also I think probably it meant a lot to them
that I still thought about him,
that he was still present in my life in some way.
And so they were very sweet
and they approved of us including it.
That story in particular-- I mean, people in the airport
will regularly mention that story to me
and I will be standing with someone
and we'll both be crying and, like, hugging,
and it's this very healing moment.
Yeah, that story meant a lot to me.
I lost a friend when I was 13,
so the fact that you were open about it and discussed it,
um, yeah, I was able to connect with it a lot, and it meant a lot.
It's important to talk about mental health,
so that people that are experiencing it don't feel so alone,
and I think it's the same with miscarriage.
I mean, people are talking about it a lot more now.
There was this feeling of being alone,
but I think that's the nature of pain,
that's why conversations around any of these things
that can be really painful are really important because you're not alone.
I mean, our whole female side of our family has dealt with infertility.
But the point is we're here, you know?
Our mom had babies, our grandmother had one child,
our great grandmother had one child.
Now I have three babies.
So I think that's what kids do.
They bring these new lives full of hope and joy.
Um, we wanted to do a kind of lightning round Q&A, if that's okay.
- We love this. - Okay.
Favorite character about each other?
I love her heart, but also that she puts it into action.
I love how fun and joyful my sister is.
- All-time favorite book? - Both: Ooh.
The first book that really opened my eyes
was "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison.
I think "Americanah" by Chimamanda Adichie.
I started a book club at work, and one of my favorite books
is this book called "A Woman Is No Man."
If you haven't read it, you should.
Um, favorite movie?
Favorite movie? We don't-- I mean, it's so sad.
I like sad, dramatic movies.
That's my sister.
Okay, watch this twin moment. Watch this twin moment.
- One, two, three. - Both: "Beaches."
What would I find in your sister's fridge right now?
She would probably have blueberries
and some almond milk.
Expired.
- She would have string cheese... - Correct.
- ...grapes... - Correct.
- I have children. - For your children, yeah.
- I have a very stocked fridge. - ...and a bottle of wine.
Yes. Again, I have children. Just kidding.
Um, how are you guys most different?
Well, we look different.
What's your most embarrassing moment as sisters?
We did end up on the cover of "People Magazine"
- after ordering a margarita... - Yes.
- ...which was embarrassing and dumb. - Probably stupid. Yeah.
Jenna: Yeah, the headline said, "Oops! They Did It Again."
- No! - So...
That actually implies we did it twice,
which is even more stupid.
There is a part in the story where you mention
Malia and Sasha Obama came into the White House.
You guys kind of gave them a tour.
Was there any advice that you also gave them?
We didn't-- we didn't really give them advice
'cause, really, I don't think they need advice,
and they didn't need advice then.
But we had so much fun
because the first time we went to the White House
was when our grandfather was there and we were seven,
and so we were a similar age to how they were.
So we took them around and we showed them
all of our hiding places that we had loved when we were little,
and all these different nooks and banisters to slide down,
and we got to show off all of our favorite little spots
when we were their age to them, which was really sweet.
So, no advice, just good hiding places.
We wrote letters to them just about the beauty of the position,
because it is so incredible to live history.
But it can be difficult to watch the people that you love,
which are your parents, criticized.
Because, to us, our parents aren't the President
and the First Lady, they're our mom and dad.
And we knew they would feel the same way,
and that sometimes it's hard,
and, really, they're more than that.
I mean, to us, they're way more than a headline.
We are going to be doing the last line
- of your guys' book. - Mm-hmm, cool.
So you're going to read the last line of your memoir.
Okay. Okay, the last line,
and I usually cry reading this last page,
but I will try not to.
I'm slightly dehydrated. That helps. It says...
And that is beautiful.
What made you decide to make that your last line?
Well, in the last chapter,
I write about how my sister, who was in Rwanda--
and in this moment, it was thinking of my sister,
who was making the world a better place miles away from where I was,
that I was always thinking of her while she was there,
and then my little girls, who were emulating
this relationship that we have in their own way.
And the end of the book is really just about that,
about sisterhood,
about how when you find those partners,
whether they're blood sisters or friends or colleagues,
they do make you feel like you can be yourself
and you can be brave and take risks.
And so I'm at the end of the book holding my girls.
In the beginning of your book, when I first opened it,
there's a poem called "Summer Days" by Mary Oliver.
And I was very curious to, like, the meaning behind it to both of you.
Like, why did you put it in the beginning?
- Mm-hmm. - Well, we love that poem,
and our mom's mom, Jenna Welch, who Jenna is named after,
we lived down the street from her
and our mom's dad Harold Welch.
And Midland is the desert in Texas,
so over the summer, it's incredibly hot.
So what we would do at night
because we couldn't play outside all day
because it was 120 degrees,
um, we'd go over to my grandmother's house
with our wet hair and nightgowns
and she would lay a blanket out in the front yard.
And she was a huge naturalist,
and she'd point out all the constellations to us.
And we loved-- all of us loved Mary Oliver.
And a poem that we loved from Mary Oliver is "The Summer Day,"
and it ends, "Doesn't everything die at last and too soon?
Tell me how is it you plan to live
your one wild and precious life?"
And we always loved that. It's sort of this reminder
and call that you have one wild and precious life.
And so we put it there, and we ended up making it
the subtitle, um, to our book as well.
"Our wild and wonderful life." And the publishers were like,
"Well, you know they're gonna think, like, margarita wild."
- And we were like, "We get that." - "We know, we know."
"We get that." But I think that's also the beauty of owning your own story.
- Yeah. - And-- you know, the good and the bad
and the tabloid-y, is that you can write your truth.
And it's really empowering to own your own story and your own truth.
And I think the end of that poem,
"The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver,
has always been kind of a challenge to Barbara and I,
which is, "How do we want to-- we have one life.
How do we want to spend it?"
And so it was important that we--
we also love her, Mary Oliver.
If you want to be inspired, read her poetry.
- It's really beautiful. - It's so beautiful.
- And if you like nature... - Which we do.
- ...you'll love it more. - Me and my sister grew up in Hawaii,
and my parents, when we get home from school--
"Drop your bags, go outside.
Stay out there till dawn, you can come back in."
"Don't come back in until dinner's ready."
You learn how to live
by living in the wilderness, living outside.
There's no technology, there's nothing besides you and whoever you're with.
- Like your sister. - Like your sister.
Yes! Well, thank you guys so much for coming
and joining us for this "BookTube" book club.
We really appreciate you discussing your book with us,
and thank you guys so much for coming.
- Thank y'all. - Thank you for your time
and your honesty and your openness.
- We really appreciate it. - Thank y'all for having us,
all the sisters.
( music playing )
- ( laughs ) - Got it.
Right after you say your name, we're gonna say,
- "And we're twins." - Why are you yelling at me?
- ...to go first. - I'm first, I'm older.
I'm older!