Jenna Bush Hager Recalls Sliding Down White House Banister With Malia and Sasha Obama

Jenna Bush Hager recently took a trip down memory lane, noting that she and the Obama family have a lot more in common than differences. During an appearance on the Dr. Oz Show, Hager recalls how she and her sister Barbara showed Sasha and Malia Obama around the White House after President Barack Obama’s 2008 win. The Today co-host detailed even showing the girls the rooms that she and her sister stayed in, which would be the ones the Obama sisters would stay in.

“We gave them a tour of the White House,” she told Dr. Oz and his viewers, according to PEOPLE. “We showed them what was our bedrooms, which was going to become their bedrooms. We just had such a beautiful day because, really, we have so much more in common than what divides us — especially the kids.” While she and her sister were in college by the time their dad, George W. Bush made it to office as president, Hager recalls the time she was much younger when her grandfather George H. W. Bush was president.

“We saw ourselves in those precious little girls because when our grandfather became president, we were their age,” she said. “So we knew what was magical about the White House. We taught them how to slide down the banister, which I’m sure Mrs. Obama loved. We’re so proud of those girls.”

Hager and her sister wrote the girls a sweet letter in light of their departure in 2017. “Malia and Sasha, eight years ago on a cold November day, we greeted you on the steps of the White House. We saw both the light and wariness in your eyes as you gazed at your new home. The four of us wandered the majestic halls of the house you had no choice but to move in to. When you slid down the banister of the solarium, just as we had done as 8-year-olds and again at 20-year-olds chasing our youth, your joy and laughter were contagious,” the sweet letter read.

It continued, “In eight years, you have done so much. Seen so much. We have watched you grow from girls to impressive young women with grace and ease. And through it all you had each other. Just like we did.”

Hager has grown to be a fan-favorite as she co-hosts alongside Hoda Kobt on Today. Filling the shoes of Kathie Lee Gifford following her departure as a long-time face of the network, viewers have warmed up to the 38-year-old.