Jenna Bush and Henry Hager. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Jenna Bush Hager’s husband, Henry Hager, kicked off their 16th wedding anniversary with her Today cohost Hoda Kotb.
“My anniversary morning, I peered out the window. My husband was not lying next to me,” Bush Hager, 42, explained on the Monday, May 13, episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “I thought, ‘Now, where is Henry?’ I see [him] and Hoda frolicking in the ocean. The two of them, sunrise swimming, and I got a little jealous. I threw on my bathing suit and I ran and jumped in.”
Kotb, 59, noted that she was initially hesitant to jump into the ocean but changed her mind after some encouraging words from Hager, 46. “He goes, ‘Get in,’ and I go, ‘It’s cold.’ He goes, ‘Get in, look,’” she told Bush Hager. “He gave me one of the motivational talks I’m sure he gives you, and I was like, all of a sudden, I’m in the water swimming. I was all the way in.”
While Bush Hager acknowledged that the water “was not warm,” she teased that she was slightly bummed Kotb “did the polar plunge with Henry and not with me.”
Jenna Bush Hager and husband Henry Hager’s bond started with a White House connection — and their romance is still burning white hot more than a decade later. The former first daughter has her father, President George W. Bush, to thank for her decades-long relationship with Hager, which began in 2004 while Hager was working […]
Bush Hager celebrated both her wedding anniversary and Hager’s birthday while filming Today With Hoda & Jenna’s back-to-back Bermuda episodes last week. “Happy 16 years HH – still love you lots!” she captioned an Instagram Story snap of herself and her husband on Sunday, May 12.
She shared more pics of Hager with their three kids — Mila, 11, Poppy, 8, and Hal, 4 — from over the years for his birthday. “Happiest birthday to the best who never took to social media!” she captioned her Thursday, May 9, Instagram slideshow. “Henry Hager we ❤️ you with all we are! Been together for 20 birthdays … (still feel 26!!).”
Kotb also commemorated the couple’s celebrations, which happened to fall within days of Mother’s Day, via Instagram. “Happy birthday … Happy anniversary … Happy Mother’s Day … Celebrate!” she captioned a pic of herself and the duo, who wed in 2008, on Thursday. “Btw @jennabhager I love you dearly ❤️.”
Prior to sharing the Bermuda swimming story on Monday, Kotb praised her cohost’s husband while chatting about what she is looking for in a new romantic partner. “I like an athlete, and I like somebody who’s got, like, strong morals, like Henry,” she stated, telling Bush Hager, “By the way, you have a great husband.”
Kotb announced in January 2022 that she and her ex-fiancé, Joel Schiffman, had parted ways after eight years together. During their relationship, Kotb adopted their daughters Haley, 7, and Hope, both of whom recently joined their mom for the Bermuda shows.
“My Mother’s Day was great,” she told Bush Hager on Monday. “We were in a hot tub and we were eating chicken fingers. It was so good.”
One day prior, Kotb shared pictures of their fun meal via Instagram, along with a snap of the homemade picture frames they gifted her. “Lucky me! Happy mother’s day ❤️❤️,” she captioned the post.
