Jeb Bush Tells How His Wife, Columba, Signed Off On Presidential Candidacy

— -- Before Jeb Bush could run for president, he needed the full backing of the one person whose opinion mattered most: His wife, Columba.

“She told me that not allowing me to pursue this mission would be like telling a musician you can't play music,” Bush told ABC News “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir in an exclusive interview in Iowa today.

The former Florida governor revealed that the couple talked about him running for president and then prayed on it, until Columba was finally “all in.”

“She's not a political wife, which I love,” Bush said of his wife of 41 years. “I like to go home and be with her and be as we've been.”

“I don't have high expectations for her to have a 5 point plan on policy,” Bush said. “She's campaigning and she's showing that she can do it and she's really good at it.”

Columba is known as an intensely private person though more recently she has been spotted on the campaign trail and has begun posting to social media outlets like Twitter and Instagram.

“People are drawn towards her. She's such a loving person but she's not a political spouse,” Bush said. “She’s my soulmate for 41 years.”

Jeb first met Columba while he was on an exchange program in Mexico, and they were married in 1974. She was the only girl Jeb ever dated.

The couple has three children: Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, Noelle Bush and John Ellis Bush, Jr, and four grandchildren.