Jenna Bush Hager: I Will Skydive Again Only If This Family Member Joins

hey today all day i'm filling in for jenna this morning because she was jumping out of a plane from 10 000 feet you know remember it happened and it was all for a real good reason here is a recap in case you missed it well a little a while ago our dear jenna was one of those stars in the sky she was over virginia now back on terra firma in case you missed it just a little while ago arjena jumped out of a plane to honor two birthdays this month the us army's 246th and what would have been her dear gampy's 97th birthday landing right at the site of a new national museum of the us army that's open to the public jenna we were we were so nervous for you but so proud so very proud of you how you feeling [Music] oh my gosh i first of all watching that brings back all of the excitement i was feeling nervous but to be able to jump with this incredible team the us army's golden knights is such an honor and i got to land at this brand new museum and so y'all i don't i don't even really know how i feel okay hey jenna i've skydived a couple times and that moment when you open up the door and you smell the air i mean you can't prevent shaking but you actually did it for a real reason i just did it for fun why was it so important for you to jump yeah yeah i yes when the door opens it's like one of the most terrifying moments of my life but i did it because my grandpa loved to jump he he first jumped when he was a 19 year old um boy fighting in world war ii and he actually hit his head on the plane and um regretted it because two of the other men in the plane didn't live and so he promised himself that if because he lived he would jump again and make a clean job so he continued to do it for all of these birthdays and so to honor him and then all of those that serve um is the reason why i did it today which is it was pretty emotional i was surprised jbh i know you did once when you were 18 you did it today you plan to do it again i if my mom will do it with me or craig melvin will do it with me then maybe i think laura bush i think laura bush might be your better better chance there wow hey jenna it was pretty impressive you guys slid right into where you were the marker where you were supposed to land were you nervous for the landing i mean it's one thing to jump out of a plane but you got to land eventually well i felt bad because we took out a cameraman or two really fast and he was like lift your legs see i don't know if you can see you stuck the landing you stuck to that that's right bowling for cameron that was fantastic well jenna well done we are so proud and we know your gambi is looking down and he's so proud too so thanks so much thank you so much we love you jenna we love you love y'all coming up next on today talk chanelle reveals her pre-show warm-up dance and she got moves stay with us it is time for overheard on third don't you do a warm-up dance bubbles into it before yeah no it's not the road exercise [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] the u.s olympic swim trials continue tonight at 8 pm on nbc sn and peacock and at 10 p.m on nbc i didn't know that was coming you shouldn't give me a heads up no why would i play like you know you know one of the things i will say about working with you guys yes and our dearly departed friend craig and i by dearly departed i mean yeah like good lord she just likes to get out early is that we laugh a lot we do we spend a lot of time laughing and linkedin pulled its users asking how important laughter is at work they had like almost 36 000 folks weighing in a majority say 83 is you you've got to laugh oh for sure yeah people often ask you know we we work early hours and we can be traveling a lot or work just busy schedules and they always say you know but do you like it it's like i love it because i just i love the people i work with i love laughing and we when we do off the rails on on seriously there be times where i don't get to say a word because you guys just dissolve it's true it's our therapy yeah it is yes and the other thing that we love to do around here is congratulate our friends when things nice things happen and chanel you are a proud northwestern alumni and you're going to be inducted into the hall of achievement yeah i know like am i a hall of famer it is probably one of the biggest honors in my life i kid you not um and guess what peter alexander um is also receiving the honor we both went to the madill school of journalism um at northwest let's take a look at some of early oh my god northwestern news network first of all listen my voice and those are numbers that northwestern administrators want to beat jobs here look at special programs like these let's listen to this your dating you will help oh my god how does she know jones northwestern news network i mean that's clara right there where did you guys find that video oh we have everything um so that's why i think northwestern because somehow that turned into this wait is that what you was that when you met uche you know [Music] what the heck all right we gotta go uh uh we're gonna separate them during the commercial coming up on hoda and jenna you don't want to miss it it's the story behind jenna's jump welcome back today on hoda and jenna jenna's skydiving partner tells us what he thinks her free fall skills are all about plus you're going to be the thrill seeker who jumped out of a plane 100 times in one day jenna you are at the national museum of the united states army in fort belvoir um i'm by the way i'm marveling at you i am looking at you differently today than i did yesterday because of what you did up there like are you depleted relieved how do you feel i feel great i mean i what an honor to be here at this magnificent new museum and i really did i mean the one thing that i do not recommend is listening to yourself scream over and over again that's kind of embarrassing um but it was i don't know i did not expect it to be as emotional as it was but it was it was really emotional for me and i feel proud and relieved and exhausted and all the good things well the golden knights were amazing and literally when you said i think you were when you were in the plane and you said you've never felt closer to your grandfather i think that touched everybody in a special place yes i mean well i it was emotional and but without the golden knights and can we just show these incredible guys over here they knew that i was getting nervous so they started telling me all these hilarious jokes like i mean some of them were not that hilarious but things like like i can now i can't even remember tell me one how'd you get this job we just sort of fell into it oh yeah we just sort of fell into this job those types of jokes that were bad kind of funny in the moment but they felt that dad jokes exactly they felt my nerves and they were just so kind and they're the best of the best and i guess in case you missed it should we relive it even though i can't believe i've let's relive it let's go [Music] [Applause] [Music] she's good oh my gosh [Music] oh oh there's the parachute oh yo i did it oh my gosh here we are oh my gosh okay oh my gosh wait a second first of all you're cringing because you're listening to yourself scream like everyone there was something that everyone was crying i never thought like i was thinking why am i crying watching you fall like that but there was something about the adrenaline the rush the meaning all of it so when you were when you were rocking in the doorway what were you what was going on do you remember or you just blanked out uh when i was rocking in the doorway i really was like why did i say yes to this i mean i think i said why did i say yes to this one million times this morning but but but at that moment i just felt i felt i did i felt closer to my games who i loved so much and i felt like i'm brave you know i felt courageous and i just went for it but by the way i couldn't have done it without somebody on my back i would never i'm a tandem jumper well what was he telling you and we're going to talk to him in just a bit because he's an incredible human being i love this photo please frame it somewhere but like what you don't just you don't just get on the plane and go okay here we go i mean he he prepped you he got you ready he told you things like what did you have to do what we did like a whole morning of training really you know and that made me feel completely safe but i was like when we saw the plane and the engine turned on i was like oh my gosh that's i'm like going to go up in that and so i had this moment though this morning and i and i told you about it a little earlier but where i where i looked at the plane and i had no idea but the the golden knights the army had named the plane after my grandpa and it was a complete surprise to me so i looked over and saw his name and it just brought me this piece i mean it inspired me yeah and um that was like at six six o'clock this morning and it just was like the sign like okay you've got it how did you not curse really because i know you and there's you were cursing every time the cameras went off everyone told me you were cursing so you cannot control yourself yet you were falling from a plane miles above the earth's surface and you didn't curse well i had a code word i had a code word i had a code secret word in my head that i practiced saying and actually the guys were hilarious the code word was hoda and the guys were like remember emphasis [Laughter] okay i want to bring in some awesome guests can we bring in my skydiving partner and really the man who saved my life this morning sergeant first class joseph ablin he's completed more than 10 000 free fall parachute jumps and sitting next to him is retired army sergeant first class mike elliott who has done more than 15 000 jumps including three with my beloved grandfather so i am so happy that these guys were here with me today because i could never have ever done it without them so sergeant a blind let's let's be honest was i a good student jen i thought you did perfect it was great sharing those guys with you 10 000 feet over the museum here and there were some cuss words but it wasn't when the camera was rolling i didn't hear any hey mike i want to ask you we know what jenna yelled on the way down i was just curious did her was her grandfather did he have any words to say when he was falling to the earth's surface i i don't recall him screaming quite as much on this right now a little less quieter than jenna but i'm sure gampy was very proud of watching you fall today absolutely amazing did he ever tell you um why he loved to skydive so much did he ever talk about it with you he never talked about it personally but he written me many letters and the last letter he stated that he felt like he could never come down from that skydive and living turning nine no big deal we absolutely love following this guy how sweet is that that's the sweetest thing to hear i remember when he landed on his 90th hoda he landed and then he immediately asked for mike because he wanted to hug him and thank him so much for jumping with him do you remember that moment absolutely absolutely i remember that jenna anyway who were you thinking about jenna when you were on the way down what were you thinking about as you were going down well there is something and i'm sure that these guys can attest to it um i know that sergeant abe lynn did this once thinking he was never going to do it again and now he's done it ten thousand times there's something about being up there and the perspective of being closer sort of to the heavens and seeing this beautiful magnificent earth that we have below us so it is i mean do you all find it to be spiritual in some ways it's a place most people never get to see and the fact that we get to see it on a daily basis is it's quite amazing and then and then we get to share that experience with people who've never gone before and that just really is truly amazing for us to be able to take take yourself and george h.w bush on tandems and share that experience with everyone i mean you were there the time when he wasn't maybe going to get to go and then the sky's and opened up and he got to dive and you guys really made made art so proud um and you continue to do so and just thank you so so much for for being part of today we have been all of today couldn't have done it without you jenna it was a it was a day that i'll never forget as long as i live here at the today show you made us all feel super brave and there were a lot of guys and people on twitter who were responding and they were tweeting i'm not crying you're crying so there was something special that hit a lot of people when you jumped out of that plane so thank you it says i loved her before and i love her even more now what a beautiful tribute and such happy tears being shed here and that was one of dozens of those exact kind of tweets one person even tweeted tweeted a video of them crying and this what does what does julie say i literally started crying as jenna was yelling oh no on the way down i'm so glad generally again the emphasis on the duck some people jumped one time how about a guy who jumped 100 times in one day jenna his name of course is doug hendricks can you imagine hoda he jumped every nine minutes for 14 hours he he obviously one of some sort of record i can't even imagine and it was all for an amazing cause a fundraising effort to support firefighters and doug is here congratulations doug thank you thank you doug it's great to see you we are i mean we're we're marveling at jenna and we know the nerves and the whole adrenaline and everything that takes to jump one time are you nuts jumping 100 times in one day i mean i don't think i'm crazy but uh it was uh it was an effort that was months in the making and a lot of preparation went into it and then it was just time to execute and doug what was i know this was a fundraising effort but tell me that i know first of all how many times have you jumped in your life and tell me what the catalyst for this crazy idea was uh so including yesterday's jumps i have about three thousand jumps and i've been jumping for about nine years now and i sort of realized recently that i had the sort of the people and the resources in place to make something like this happen and i like doing sort of challenging things and new things and i felt like this would be a good next step well this is really really cool and again because it's for such a great cause it really does kind of shine a light on it now i think people might be watching this and thinking well jenna did it maybe i can do it doug's pretty cool maybe i can do it so doug um if you were looking at someone and saying and giving them advice whether they should or shouldn't do it what are some of the criteria i mean i would certainly recommend everyone try skydiving but there's there's skyping facilities all across the country and all across the world and uh and generally sort of any all types of uh of body sizes and shapes can uh can go skydiving okay so you don't think there are any restrictions of of of any kind for some folks uh most places have a restriction based on uh by stone weight so there's usually an upper limit um and that varies place to place but that's just a a restriction based on the gear you know i i felt like there was something almost spiritual about it this morning and i i wonder do you feel that too and is there advice that you have for somebody that wants to do this yeah so it's definitely i have different feelings jumping now versus my very first jump but it still still gets me excited in every single jump and uh and for advice for people looking to go skydiving i would say sort of seek out your uh your local uh skype facility and then sort of enter in with sort of an open mind and uh and sort of be brave and and go tackle it well doug good for you good for you raising money for a great cause and uh you're pretty remarkable so congratulations thanks doug today talks continues after the break i'll have an exclusive chat with rama you'll see it here on today all day welcome back to today talks in our exclusive content that you can only see here on today all day this is a big day okay it's not every day that our girl donna sits in this chair i've never sat in this comfy chair before it feels good donna you know what's funny i just had a little moment here where i was reflecting on the very beginning when you first came to work on this hour of the show and just how you've changed and evolved and grown and like now you do pieces that move me to tears and i was like i remember waiting for me to tears right now but i do remember when you came in and you were just like okay i'm going to do this on this and all of a sudden like everything i don't know you know what's amazing you have always been an amazing guiding light for me whether you knew it or not whether you knew me or not you have always been so amazing i remember i was a sophomore in college and i was an intern at nbc ad sales and i happened to see you and i went up to you with my nbc badge to make sure that you knew i wasn't a stalker i was like hi i'm donna i'm just i'm a huge fan and i love your show i'd love to work with you one day and you were like well come on down to the show and i was drafting an email i was so nervous it took hours on my lunch break i see you on the plaza again yeah and you looked at me and said are you stalking me you remember i remembered you well you're memorable you're rememberable your memory like send that email already but you know what's funny there are a lot of people and i think a lot of young people who look at you and say boy you know how did she get that break like what did she do so why do you think even to get the ad sales internship thing like most people would dream about working at 30 rockefeller plaza but have no idea how they would do it so what did i don't even know what did you do to get there i knew i had to build a resume right so i got five internships in college and that was the main thing three of them were with nbc and i just always kept going back to um you know just work your hardest at whatever you're given right and i realized i was happiest on this hour no matter what i was doing behind the scenes i was just happy to be here i think heart i think it's hard because everyone works really hard and you're like you know it's it's like no you do something different because everybody works hard that's not it sorry because i know because but you do something different you have a you connect because i think that's the difference some people work here and they work hard but you don't ever connect with them you know i think i learned this recently and i think you have this i mean obviously you have this too but i think this might be the reason that we share um this feeling of empathy i think comes from being a first generation american i think having parents who weren't born here and who therefore had to work really hard i think that that's a value that's always been instilled in me and like i you know i have such a passion for being here it's my favorite part of life but to have my name on the screen i want to make my dad proud in that way and so that's really that's really what gets me and i think i think i think that shared empathy that we hopefully have i mean am i tooting my own horn no you're not because i think it's because and i also think our parents expect expected us to do something good they were like well we're here go do something it's like okay and you feel like you do have a million choices where as if our parents had stayed right you know in their home countries it's not you know i just i can't even do you ever think about ma'am what would my life have been like if they never move i do yeah i think about that all the time and i think i mean still probably my dad wants me to be a surgeon that's not that shift sales but yeah i mean i do think it's really important and i think um you know i'm sure your mom is always so proud to see you and well the idea that you i think that was important what you said like your dad actually gets to look up and see his name on the screen his name is there the girl he gave you know he you know your mom gave birth to and there you are so yeah and i think too i mean fulfilling fulfilling a dream is important too because that's something that i don't think i mean my mom loved raising my sister and me but to have a professional dream fulfilled i think that's a big deal well i do think what i think is interesting about this today's today's talk is that there are young people who want to know or they want to break yeah and they wonder if all the millions of people how do you wind up and sometimes i think it's like perfect timing sometimes it's definitely hard work it's definitely hard it's definitely getting to know people but i think you're unique but don is done i just gotta say though having a mentor like you having a mentor like jenna having a mentor like kathie happily and everyone behind the scenes i mean we're cheering you on that's by the way the best part wait you don't even know what's going to happen to donna we're all going to be working for donna okay and they're supposed to talk about jenna's skydiving she jumped okay and she's fine all right that's it for this episode of today talks keep watching for more of today all day hey thanks for watching our youtube channel find your favorite recipes celebrity interviews uplifting stories shop our favorite deals and so much more with the today app download it now

Channel: TODAY

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Keywords: AllDay, Pop Culture, Big News, TODAY Talks, Shop All Day, Today

Id: 3eOH4dazPUM

Length: 24min 30sec (1470 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 17 2021