George W. Bush Painted Such a Beautiful Picture for Hoda Kotb, It Made Her Cry
Happy birthday, Hoda Kotb!
For her 60th birthday, TODAY Host Hoda Kotb received a number of personal, meaningful gifts, and near the top of the list has to be a special painting from the Bush family. Read on to find out more.
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George W. Bush's gift to Hoda Kotb
Knowing that her TODAY With Hoda & Jenna co-host's milestone birthday was on the horizon, Jenna Bush Hager asked her father, former President George W. Bush, to paint a version of Kotb's "favorite" photo. In the picture, Kotb leads her two daughters, Haley Joy and Hope Catherine, into a park. Even without being able to see anyone's expression, the tenderness in the family comes through. When she unwrapped the painting, Kotb was visibly moved by the sweet gesture.
Sadly, when George W. Bush painted Jenna Bush Hager, she wasn't quite as happy with the result. The co-hosts joked that no one would have a portrait of their own face in their home, so it was a wise decision to turn a family photograph into a birthday present for Kotb.
George W. Bush's post-presidency painting career
Since leaving the Oval Office in 2009, President George W. Bush has used his oil paintings to spotlight important people and causes. He created a book featuring portraits of military veterans and another of portraits of immigrants.
In 2014, he created a series of oil portraits of world leaders, which he displayed at an exhibit at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The 43rd president opened up to his daughter on TODAY about how he anticipated his subjects would react. "I think they're going to be [like], 'Wow, George Bush is a painter,''' he said. "I'm sure when they heard I was painting, and if they had, they're going to say, 'Wow, I look forward to seeing a stick figure he painted of me.'"
His wife and Jenna Bush Hager's mother, former First Lady Laura Bush, praised her husband's diligent pursuit of the pastime. "He's very disciplined,'' she said on TODAY. "And so he comes up and works every single day, which is why he's improved and can do points of 'Bob the Cat' that are so good." (Bob was a family cat.)
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