Jenna Bush Hager Reveals She Once Had a Belly Button Piercing That Got Infected — Details on Her Rebellious Moment!

Mar. 15, 2025

Jenna Bush Hager reveals she once had an infected belly button piercing.Photo:Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Jenna Bush Hageris no stranger to piercings.

When theToday with Jenna & Friendshost got a new ear piercing live on the air with guest hostScarlett Johanssonon Thursday, Jan. 23, she shared that she’s had multiple piercings in her ear and even one outside of the ear.

“I have five here,” Bush Hager, 43, said pointing to her ears. “I also had my belly button for a brief period. It got infected. It wasn’t great.”

Scarlett Johansson and Jenna Bush Hager Get Matching Piercings Live on the Today Show.TODAY with Jenna & Friends/YouTube

TODAY with Jenna & Friends/YouTube

This isn’t the first time theTodayco-host has talked about the fated piercing. Back inJuly 2024, she chatted with then-co-hostHoda Kotbabout getting her belly button pierced back when she was in college.

“I’ve done it once. I have a nice little scar that reminds me of those wild days,” she said at the time. “I was actually studying abroad at Oxford, and I [wanted to be] rebellious. And there wasn’t much I could do besides pierce my belly button. So I did it.”

And that wasn’t the only time Bush Hager was adventurous with piercings. In September 2021, she also told Kotb that her twin sister,Barbara Bush, helped her with one of her ear piercings.

“My sister pierced one of these with a safety pin and an apple,”Bush Hager said. “She iced it to numb it… Once she tried to pierce her own belly button. I know, I shouldn’t. Sorry, Barbara. She just stabbing… I remember she was listening to a Led Zeppelin album and my dad was like, ‘What are you doing?’ “

Twin sisters Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush Hager in November 2023.Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty

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She’s also previously gotten ear piercings with co-hostSavannah GuthrieandTodayalum Natalie Morales. On Thursday’s show, Bush Hager and Johansson both got “best friend” ear piercings live on the air together while holding hands.

“I have a lot of piercings,” Johansson detailed at the time. “When I was a kid, I just was into piercings and then I had my eyebrow pierced, my septum, my everything. It was just a thing. And so I think it’s been a minute since I got a piercing, so I’m excited to do it with you.”

source: people.com