Jenna Bush Hager said her grandmother Barbara Bush was in “great spirits” Monday after a family spokesman said over the weekend that the former first lady was in “failing health” and that she wouldn’t seek additional medical treatment.
Bush Hager told her colleagues on NBC's "Today" show that she and her twin sister, named Barbara for the first lady, spoke with Bush on Sunday night.
“She’s a fighter. She’s an enforcer,” she said. “She reminded me not to believe everything I read.”
Family spokesman Jim McGrath said Sunday that Bush, 92, opted to receive comfort care instead of seeking additional medical treatment following a recent spate of hospitalizations. McGrath said the decision was made after Bush conferred with her doctors and family members.
McGrath didn’t say what specific illness or sickness led to the former first lady’s decision. Bush was hospitalized early last year alongside her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, with a case of viral bronchitis.
Bush Hager said Monday that her grandmother was “surrounded by family.”
“She’s with my grandpa, the man she’s loved for over 73 years,” she said. “I think that the fact that they’re together in this and he still says, ‘I love you Barbie,’ every night is pretty remarkable.”
Barbara and George H.W. Bush married in Jan. 5, 1945, making theirs the longest marriage of any presidential couple in American history. The couple has six children: George, Robin, John (known as “Jeb”), Neil, Marvin and Dorothy.
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