The pairing ofGeorge W. BushandEllen DeGenereshad some people smiling and others scowling orscratching their heads— “a gay Hollywood liberal sitting next to a conservative Republican president,” as DeGeneres put it — butJenna Bush Hager“personally thought it was great.”
TheTodayco-host says that, even when they were young and in middle school, “Barbara and I were sitting around the kitchen table, and obviously we talked about a lot of mundane things, but if we had opinions we were allowed to share them.”
Discussing the dust-up around her dad’s relationship with DeGeneres, Hagerpointed to his bondwith former First LadyMichelle Obama, including meme-able momentspassing her a cough dropand hugging her.
“I personally, and I think so many of us, miss a time where people who have different opinions get along,” Hager says. “And I yearn for that. I want my kids to realize that we live in a world when people are think tons of different things and we treat everybody with respect and kindness.”
• For more on Jenna Bush Hager’s life now, juggling herTodayshow job and three children at home,subscribe now to PEOPLEor pick up this week’s issues, on newsstands now.
“And so just like Ellen, my dad does that,” she continues. “And if you ask anybody that’s worked for him or knows him, plenty of the people that worked for him have different opinions or different lifestyles, thought different things and felt comfortable sharing that with him because he’s open.”
“I personally thought it was great,” Hager says of her dad joining DeGeneres at the Oct. 6 Dallas Cowboys game.
AccordingtoUSA Today, the Fox broadcast of the game showed a snippet of President Bush and DeGeneres — who attended with their wives, former First LadyLaura BushandPortia de Rossi— smiling and chatting in a private suite while DeGeneres looked at her phone.
Fox NFL
“Laura & George Bush sitting withEllen Degeneresand Portia de Rossi is not something I expected to see at an NFL game,” one Twitter userwrote. “I would absolutely watch this sitcom though.”
There were also many Bush detractors who took issue with DeGeneres being seen with him, given his conservative politics and anti-gay record while in office.
In a characteristic response, one userwrote on Twitter: “So quirky and fun to see George Bush out with Ellen at a Cowboys game after his terrible foreign policy decisions killed thousands of innocent people.”
DeGeneres herself defended the momentwhile on her talk show later that week.
“I’m friends with George Bush. In fact, I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have,” she said.
From left: Ellen DeGeneres and George W. Bush.Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images; Stacie McChesney/Getty Images
“We’re all different, and I think we’ve forgotten that that’s okay that we’re all different,” DeGeneres said. “For instance, I wish people wouldn’t wear fur. I don’t like it, but I’m friends with people who wear fur.”
Others, includingElton JohnandReese Witherspoon, agreed with DeGeneres that the issue was, in their minds, ultimately about acceptance over a political debate.
Hager echoed that as well, telling PEOPLE:
“I was on maternity leave so I didn’t read all the bad stuff, but I was also taught as a child if there was bad things being written about anybody I love, I sort of ignored that. I just saw the goodness in it.”
source: people.com
