Jenna Bush Hager reveals devastating moment she discovered dad George W. Bush’s secret fiancée as a kid
Jenna Bush Hager has opened up about the devastating moment she discovered her dad, George W. Bush’s secret fiancée as a child.
A decade before he wed former first lady Laura Bush, George was engaged to his college sweetheart, Cathryn Lee Wolfman.
The two started dating while he was a student at Yale and she was at Rice, and he popped the question in 1967, per an engagement notice in the Houston Chronicle.
The two never walked down the aisle and ultimately went their separate ways, with Bush going on to wed Laura in November 1977; they welcomed their twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, four years later in November 1981.
Now, Jenna, 44, has recalled her shock upon discovering that her dad had been engaged to another woman before he met her mom.
During an episode of Today last week, Jenna explained: ‘My dad actually called off a wedding. My dad was engaged, and he called off his wedding. They were really young.’
She said that her dad had never mentioned his college romance to her, but she found out about it when she came across his ‘wedding announcement’ while going through some mementos.
She explained that the shocking discovery came after she received a low score on a math test in third grade.
Jenna Bush Hager has opened up about the devastating moment she discovered her dad, George W. Bush’s secret fiancée as a child
George started dating a woman named Cathryn Lee Wolfman while he was a student at Yale and she was at Rice, and he popped the question in 1967, per an engagement notice in the Houston Chronicle. He’s seen in his Yale portrait
After her dad yelled at her for the bad grade, she recalled telling him that he probably did the same thing when he was a kid.
So he pulled out a ‘memory box’ to show her his old report cards, which is where she found the surprising ‘wedding announcement.’
‘He took out his memory box that my grandmother had made him to show a report card, and I saw a wedding announcement to somebody that wasn’t my mom,’ Jenna recalled.
‘I started crying and made it about myself, as a third-grader does.
‘I didn’t realize in that third-grade sort of melodramatic [way], good thing he called it off or we wouldn’t have been here.’
During the episode, Jenna praised her dad, adding that to ‘be able to walk away’ from a relationship takes strength.
‘You really do have to listen to yourself,’ she said.
Very little is known about George’s first love; however, an announcement from the Houston Chronicle in 1967 reads: ‘George Walker Bush, son of Congressman-elect and Mrs. George H.W. Bush of Houston and Washington, will take pretty Cathryn Lee Wolfman as his bride.’
The two never walked down the aisle and ultimately went their separate ways, with Bush going on to wed Laura in November 1977; they welcomed their twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, four years later in November 1981
Jenna said that her dad had never mention his college romance to her, but she found out about it when she came across his ‘wedding announcement’ while going through some mementos in third grade
When asked about it by the Houston Press in 1999, a Bush spokesperson confirmed: ‘Yes, Governor Bush, while he was in college, was very briefly engaged to a very fine person he thinks the world of. Ultimately, they went their separate ways.’
They added that the pair do not keep in touch.
A 2000 Vanity Fair profile on George described Cathryn as a ‘fun-loving cheerleader,’ who was also a ‘dean’s-list student’ and ‘totally apolitical.’
The publication, which interviewed many of George’s friends, reported that the relationship simply ‘fizzled out’ due to their busy schedules, and that Wolfman went on to work with the CIA after college.
