--- title: Jenna Bush Hager Body-Positive Letter to Daughters description: Read what Jenna Bush Hager wrote to her daughters about the importance of accepting themselves as they are. canonical: https://time.com/4801268/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-letter-daughters/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-01T14:44:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:42.016Z og:title: Jenna Bush Hager Writes Powerful Letter to Her Daughters About Beauty og:description: ‘Just by being authentically you, you are more than enough’ og:url: https://time.com/4801268/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-letter-daughters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46852a46d45bbb3/6988cfc10b72e3572d6ee0fd/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-letter-daughters.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2017 Matrix Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jenna Bush Hager Writes Powerful Letter to Her Daughters About Beauty twitter:description: ‘Just by being authentically you, you are more than enough’ twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46852a46d45bbb3/6988cfc10b72e3572d6ee0fd/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-letter-daughters.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jenna Bush Hager Writes Powerful Letter to Her Daughters About Beauty by [Jen Juneau / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Jen Juneau / People Contributor Jun 1, 2017 2:44 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 24: Jenna Bush Hager attends 2017 Matrix Awards at the Sheraton New York Times Square on April 24, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/WireImage) NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 24: Jenna Bush Hager attends 2017 Matrix Awards at the Sheraton New York Times Square on April 24, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/WireImage)John Lamparski—WireImage by [Jen Juneau / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Jen Juneau / People Contributor Jun 1, 2017 2:44 PM UTC Just in case it wasn’t obvious why [Jenna Bush Hager](http://people.com/tag/jenna-bush-hager/) and her adorable family made the 2017 PEOPLE’s [World’s Most Beautiful](http://people.com/worlds-most-beautiful/) issue, the [_Today_](http://people.com/tag/today)show correspondent has authored a new piece to further drive home the point. Addressed to daughters [Poppy Louise](http://celebritybabies.people.com/2015/08/14/jenna-bush-hager-welcomes-daughter-poppy-louise/), 21 months, and [Margaret “Mila” Laura,](http://celebritybabies.people.com/2013/04/14/jenna-bush-hager-welcomes-daughter-margaret-laura/) 4, the letter, published [on _Today_‘s website](http://www.today.com/series/love-your-body/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-lesson-she-learned-her-parents-t112066) as part of their [Love Your Body series](http://www.today.com/series/love-your-body), touches on the themes of beauty and self-worth, along with some lessons about self-acceptance that she hopes her girls carry within themselves as they grow. “When I’m on the road, traveling away from you, I compulsively [scroll through photos](http://people.com/babies/easter-2017-celebrity-family-social-media-photos/) of you on my phone,” begins Bush Hager, 35\. “I look at your eyes bright, your smiles wide, your skin pure. I have [never seen anything more beautiful](http://people.com/babies/worlds-most-beautiful-families-of-2017) than the two of you.” “It is the way you look — your blue eyes (that I _longed_ for as a girl) and your golden hair — but more than that, it is YOU!” she continues. “I see [all of you: your kindness](http://time.com/4632036/bush-sisters-obama-sisters/?xid=time%5Fsocialflow%5Ftwitter), your exuberance, your creativity and, yes, [your rambunctious humor](http://people.com/babies/jenna-bush-hager-daughter-mila-maam-southern/).” “But, my darling girls, that purity and light I see in your eyes could one day be shattered by our world,” Bush Hager writes. “You [will see images on](http://people.com/books/jenna-barbara-bush-new-memoir/) TV and in movies and magazines to [which you will inevitably](http://celebritybabies.people.com/2014/10/31/jenna-bush-hager-parenting-tips-laura-bush/) compare yourself. And you will feel that you come up short. I know that I did.” The former first daughter, who is married to [Henry Hager](http://people.com/celebrity/jenna-bush-henry-hager-wed-in-texas/), shares her own insecurities she [had as a young girl](http://people.com/politics/bush-sisters-letter-to-sasha-malia-obama/), including over her braces and height. “My hearts, you, too, will look in the mirror and not always like _what_ you see,” Bush Hager adds. “You might not feel skinny enough or pretty enough. But [if Daddy and I do our jobs](http://people.com/babies/jenna-bush-hager-daughter-mila-maam-southern/), you will look in the mirror and always like _who_ you see. And that, my babes, is far more important.” The mother of two goes on to say her parents — [George W. Bush](http://people.com/tag/george-w-bush) and [Laura Bush](http://people.com/tag/laura-bush), known as “Jefe and Grammee” [to their granddaughters](http://people.com/politics/george-w-bush-laura-bush-family-christmas-selflie/) — told her she was “smart and kind and pretty” as a child, but that she “didn’t always believe them” when they told her she was beautiful. “They [taught me that who I am](http://people.com/babies/jenna-bush-hager-dad-george-w-bush-feminist/) is more important than how I look,” Bush Hager explains of her parents. “And that if I radiate love, kindness and empathy, I [can bring some light to](http://people.com/politics/read-jenna-bush-hagers-letter-islam/) this dark world (and isn’t that better than being a size zero?).” “So, my precious babes, always, always know that [just by being authentically you](http://celebritybabies.people.com/2016/05/18/jenna-bush-hager-daughters-outdoors-technology/), you are more than enough,” she concludes the letter. “And my hope is that one day, when you stand judging yourself in front of a mirror, [you can see yourself](http://celebritybabies.people.com/2016/01/02/jenna-bush-hager-posts-sweet-instagram-with-her-parents-and-children/) the way I that I see you.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4801268/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-letter-daughters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4801268/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-letter-daughters/"},"headline":"Jenna Bush Hager Writes Powerful Letter to Her Daughters About Beauty","datePublished":"2017-06-01T14:44:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:42.016Z","description":"‘Just by being authentically you, you are more than enough’","url":"https://time.com/4801268/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-letter-daughters/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46852a46d45bbb3/6988cfc10b72e3572d6ee0fd/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-letter-daughters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jen Juneau / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc46852a46d45bbb3/6988cfc10b72e3572d6ee0fd/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-letter-daughters.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2017 Matrix Awards","caption":"2017 Matrix Awards","creditText":"John Lamparski—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4801268/jenna-bush-hager-body-positive-letter-daughters/","name":"Jenna Bush Hager Writes Powerful Letter to Her Daughters About Beauty"}}]}] ```