Jenna Bush Hager Chooses Joyful Eating Over Weight Loss Injections

Jenna Bush Hager explains why she has opted against using GLP-1 medications for weight loss.

“Eating is such a pleasure,” the 43-year-old Bush Hager shared with guest cohost Rosie Perez during the September 17 broadcast of Today With Jenna and Friends. “My desire to enjoy food, alongside other factors, is why I’ve refrained from trying it.”

The discussion between Bush Hager and Perez centered on the actress’s recent vacation with friends, where she found herself constantly comparing her physique to others while at the beach.

“I indulged heavily all summer,” the 61-year-old Perez joked. “When my female friends arrived [at our shared rental], I thought, ‘Is everyone taking the injections?’ Everyone appeared slender apart from me. I felt like a massive creature stranded on the shore.”

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Bush Hager promptly comforted Perez — who seemingly used “the needle” as a colloquial term for semaglutide injections such as Ozempic or Mounjaro — assuring her she did not appear to be heavy.

Though Bush Hager and Perez shifted away from the topic of shedding pounds on Wednesday, the Today host has openly shared her personal experiences with body image in the past.

“In seventh grade, a boyfriend ended our relationship after he saw me in a swimsuit when we went for a swim,” Bush Hager recounted during an April 2023 episode of Today. “Even now, at times, despite feeling good — I’ve had three children through three C-sections, I feel truly connected to my body and view it as something wonderful — I might enter a pool and experience a brief [moment of anxiety]. There have been occasions while hosting this program when commentary about our bodies has been published, bringing me back to that initial experience.”

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Bush Hager, mother to Mila, Poppy, and Hal with her husband Henry Hager, is now committed to instilling self-assurance in her children regarding their own appearance.

“Our sole desire is for our children to be loving. We aren’t looking for the celebrity child, or this, or that. We desire children who are compassionate,” she stated then. “I occasionally consider individuals as if they are parents, thinking, ‘Perhaps he received upsetting news about his child today?’ Even if they aren’t a parent, that type of stress [or] envisioning them with an infant fosters empathy for anyone.”

Bush Hager came to accept her body following earlier challenges experienced during her youth.

“A camp friend sent me a photo of myself from camp at the identical [age] Mila [is currently],” the former first daughter recounted on an August 2022 installment of Today, mentioning her astonishment at seeing herself in a two-piece bathing suit. “This is often the experience of being a girl — and perhaps specifically my experience — but I recall believing I could never wear a bikini, convinced I was ‘the heavier one.’ Then I observe that young girl, and I think, ‘You weren’t heavy. You were in a bikini, confident and enjoying it.’ So, why do we dedicate our lives to worrying about such things?”