Jenna Bush Hager To Join 'Today' Show? What To Know About Kathie Lee Gifford's Replacement

NBC announced on Tuesday that Jenna Bush Hager would replace longtime "Today" host Kathie Lee Gifford in April. Many were quick to congratulate Hager, including her future co-host Hoda Kotb.

"My heart is bursting!" Kotb posted on Twitter about Hager, who is the daughter of former President George W. Bush. Kotb and Hager will co-host the fourth hour of the program.

"It feels humbling and I can’t believe it," Hager said of becoming a permanent host.

Hager is a familiar face to "Today" viewers, having worked as a correspondent for the morning program since 2009. She has also had served as a fill-in host.

Hager, 37, and her fraternal twin sister Barbara have been in the limelight since their grandfather, George H.W. Bush, served as vice president from 1981 to 1989. He would later serve as president from 1989-1993.

Hager would go on to attend the University of Texas, graduating with a degree in English in 2004, while Barbara Bush went to Yale.

Before Hager's broadcasting career, she and Barbara drew attention for their party lifestyles. They were cited in 2001 for alcohol possession by a minor by police in Austin, Texas.

Author Ronald Kessler wrote in his book, "In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect," that Hager "would purposely try to lose her [secret service] protection by going through red lights or by jumping in her car without telling agents where she was going."

Kessler also noted that her then-boyfriend and now current husband Henry Chase Hager once got so drunk at a 2005 Halloween party in Washington, D.C., that Secret Service had to take him to a hospital. In 2004, the first daughter was seen sticking out her tongue at reporters.

Hager was part of her father's 2004 re-election campaign and spoke at some campaign stops. She was also a noted speaker at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Hager spent the next few years working as a teacher in Washington, D.C., and as an intern for UNICEF's Educational Policy Department in Latin America. She detailed her experiences traveling to various countries in South and Central America in the 2007 book, "Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope."

In 2008, she released her second book, which encouraged child literacy and was co-written by her mother Laura Bush. The mother-daughter writing team would author several other books. Hager also served as an editor-at-large for Southern Living.

She and Henry Hager married in May 2008. They have two daughters, ages 5 and 3.

Despite her family's political history, Hager identifies herself as an independent and has not been shy about straying from Republican viewpoints.

She publicly rebuked the Trump administration's 2017 travel ban against immigrants from Muslim-majority countries. Hager also urged her Twitter followers "to teach acceptance and love to our kids for all races, all religions," and included an excerpt from the address her father gave right after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.