Jenna Bush Hager has shared heartfelt words following the death of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who served alongside her father, former President George W. Bush.
The Cheney family announced that Cheney passed away at the age of 84 on Monday, Nov. 3, “due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.”
The next morning, Bush Hager addressed the news on the Today show. “Of course, I think everybody is waking up and thinking about his family,” she said while speaking with her co-hosts. “When you hear of a politician who passes, there’s tons of coverage about what they were like as a politician, but as a daughter of a politician, as a granddaughter of a politician, I’m thinking of his daughters and who they are missing — not necessarily a man who casts votes, but a man who raised them.”
Bush Hager expressed her sympathy for Cheney’s daughters, adding, “I’m thinking of Mary and Liz this morning, who I’m going to reach out to as well just to send my love, and I know my parents are thinking the very same.”
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Reflecting on what it’s like to grieve someone in the public eye, she continued, “Public grieving can be very difficult because there’s a lot about who the person is as a public figure, but very little about who they are as a dad, a granddad, a husband — and so I’m thinking of his family.”
She also mentioned that her husband, Henry Hager, shares a close friendship with Mary Cheney. “Mary was very close — is close — with Henry, so Henry’s out of town, but I texted him this morning and I’m sure he’s going to reach out to her as soon as he wakes up.”
The Cheney family said in their statement that the former vice president was surrounded by his daughters and his wife of 61 years, Lynne, when he passed away.
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“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,” the family’s statement read. “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
