Jenna Bush Hager Says the Department of Public Safety Taught Her to Drive: 'You Would Think I’d Be Excellent'

The "Today with Hoda & Jenna" co-host also recalled a bizarre "flirting" incident from her driver’s ed class

Jenna Bush Hager is sharing funny memories of when she learned how to drive as a teenager.

The Today with Hoda & Jenna co-host, 41, opened up about her driver’s education with Hoda Kotb, 59, last week, saying that the department of public safety taught her how to drive — not former President George W. Bush or former first lady Barbara Bush.

“My parents weren’t allowed to drive at that stage,” Bush Hager explained to Kotb on the show, reminding that her dad was the governor of Texas at the time. Considering that a government agency administered her lessons, she said, "you would think I would be an excellent driver."

Despite getting lessons from the public safety department, “I went to driver’s ed,” she continued. “Some boy threw me in the dumpster. Like, we were flirting, you know?"

After Kotb stared at her with a confused expression, Bush Hager added, "Well, that’s how boys flirted back in the '90s.”

Kotb then shared her own memories of learning to drive, saying she also took driver's ed classes and that — while her parents let schoolteachers pass down most of the important lessons in her teenage years — they were in the car with her when she first practiced driving in a parking lot.

Related: Jenna Bush Hager Says She Has ‘Trauma’ After Using Viral TikTok Aging Filter: ‘I Look Like My Dad!’

In August, Bush Hager spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about the “absolute best blessing from her parents during her teen years.

"I had parents that really supported us and never made us feel bad about mistakes that we made," she told PEOPLE. "But yeah, it wasn't easy. And yet I'm so thankful for all of it."

Related: Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb Joke They 'Ruined' Their First-Born Kids by 'Hovering': 'We Apologize'

Bush Hager and her fraternal twin sister, Barbara Pierce Bush, were 7 when their grandfather, President George H.W. Bush, was sworn in as president and 13 when their father became the governor of Texas. While Bush Hager was attending college in Austin, her father became the 43rd U.S. president.

"It's interesting. I had such a juxtaposition," Bush Hager recalled. "When my dad became president, everything changed. We just wanted to be normal college kids."

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"I think the world was expecting us to be perfect, even though our parents did not, which is the absolute best blessing that they could have ever given us. The freedom to just be ourselves and to make mistakes," Bush Hager told PEOPLE. "Because I don't know how I would be a mother without having the grace to fail. I think kids, teenagers are so scared of making mistakes now."

Related: Former First Lady Laura Bush Turned Jenna Bush Hager's Sweet 16 'Awkward' After Inviting Both Her Ex and Boyfriend

Bush Hager and her husband, Henry Chase Hager, are parents to daughters Mila and Poppy, and son Hal. She said that the former president, 77, was “a hands-on dad” and a caring grandfather who enjoys spending time with the kids.

"He was home and with us every single night,” she said, “He was an equal parent to my mom. And I think that isn't surprising if you know him. He loved being a father and he loves to be a grandfather."

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