Jenna Bush Hager Reveals She Was First to Propose to Her Husband

Jenna Bush and Henry Hager Wedding in Crawford, Texas
Jenna Bush and Henry Hager Wedding in Crawford, Texas

Did you know… Jenna Bush Hager was first to propose to her husband, Henry Hager? The Today show co-host told Hoda Kotb recently that she was the one to pop the question only three months into dating Hager.

“I asked Henry to marry me,” the political scion told Kotb, who’s currently in the process of planning her own wedding.

“How did I not know that?” Kotb, 55, replied.

“Because he said no,” Bush, 38, replied. “And then he asked me five years later.”

At the time, the former First Daughter was likely 21, though she was certain Hager was her life partner. (For context, the average marriage age in the U.S. is 32.) “After three months of dating—and I might’ve had a Christmas cocktail—we were dancing. I said, ‘This is it, I know it. Let’s just get married, what are we waiting for?'”

After Hager initially rebuffed her question, he waited five years until Bush was 26 to propose. In 2007, they got engaged and married a year later. The wedding took place on the Bush Family ranch close to Crawford, Texas, where about 200 loved ones gathered to witness the moment. Just this past year, Jenna’s twin sister, Barbara Bush Pierce, married at the Bush Family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.

CRAWFORD, TX – MAY 10: In this handout image provided by the White House, Henry and Jenna Hager pause as they cut their wedding cake during a reception in their honor following the ceremony at Prairie Chapel Ranch May 10, 2008 near Crawford, Texas. (Photo by Shealah Craighead/The White House via FilmMagic)

The reason why the proposal is now making news is because the NBC News personality was recently prompted to reminisce about the entire process during a conversation with Traces Ellis Ross and Oprah Winfrey. “I, like many of us, was taught to grow up dreaming of my wedding, not of my life, and I spent many years dreaming of my wedding and also waiting to be chosen,” she said, according to the Today show. “Well, here’s the thing, I’m the chooser.”

The Hagers are now parents to three children.

Related Articles