BREAKINGNEWSJenna Bush Hager of TODAY Issues HEARTBREAKING ANNOUNCEMENT That Leads to Her Absence

Jenna Bush Hager took a much-needed summer break from The Today Show. She returned on Tuesday, September 2. But she was absent again the next day. She opened up about the heartbreaking reason she missed Wednesday’s show.

Jenna Bush Hager Heartbreaking Reason She Was MIA From Today

Jenna Bush Hager has been co-hosting the fourth hour of The Today Show since 2019. She’s now the primary host after Hoda Kotb left earlier this year. Today with Jenna & Friends is still searching for the perfect permanent replacement.

Fans are used to seeing Jenna on the morning program. She took a break at the end of August to go on a summer vacation with her husband, Henry Hager, and their three kids: Mila (12), Poppy (9), and Hal (5).
Jenna Bush Hager - YouTubeJenna Bush Hager – YouTube

She returned to the program on Tuesday, September 2. But was missing again the next day. She returned again on Thursday, September 4, and shared the heartbreaking reason she was MIA.

Jenna Hager Bush returned to her home state of Texas to interview some of the surviving parents of the Camp Mystic campers who were lost in the flash floods in early July. The camp lost 27 young campers and counselors to the floods that claimed over 130 people over the July 4th holiday weekend.

At least one of the campers at the all-girls camp is still missing two months later. “Every phone call, every text, your heart stops because you hope it’s news that they’ve found your child,” the girl’s father told Jenna Hager Bush.

Parents Of Young Campers Lost To Flood Break Silence

The loss of lives at Camp Mystic and throughout Texas hit close to home for the Today Show host. Jenna Bush Hager grew up in Texas. Her mother, former First Lady Laura Bush, was a counselor at Camp Mystic many years ago. Jenna is friends with some of the parents whose kids died in the flood.

“They sent their girls off to camp this summer thinking it was the safest place on Earth, but they never got a chance to bring them home,” Jenna Bush Hager said before the segment with the parents aired on Today.

 

Families Are Seeking Change In Laws

Despite their grief, the families of the Camp Mystic victims jumped into action to make sure the tragedy never happens again. They worked with Texas lawmakers to pass The Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act bill. The law passed in the state capital and is expected to be signed into law later this week.

The bill requires new emergency protocols and building restrictions at youth camps in Texas. Camp Mystic reportedly didn’t evacuate immediately, which likely contributed to the deaths of the campers and counselors.

“It became very, very clear that this wasn’t an accident. This was complacency, and it is 100 percent preventable,” one parent told Jenna Bush Hager about the tragedy that unfolded at the camp in July.