Jenna Bush Hager is part of American history as a former First Kid.
The daughter of George W. Bush and Laura Bush, she is happily married to Henry Hager, and
she occasionally shares details of their marriage on the Today show.
From the looks of things, their romance is total Relationship-Goals.
The Hagers' story begins all the way back in 2004, during George W. Bush's second presidential
campaign.
At the time, Jenna had just graduated from college at the University of Texas, and she
had taken a job teaching at a public charter school in Washington, D.C., according to The
Washington Post.
"What I remember about Miss Jenna as a teacher was that she was very caring and welcoming,
she had a lot of patience."
As for Henry, he graduated from Wake Forest University in 2000, and he worked for Karl
Rove before joining Bush's 2004 presidential campaign team.
That's when the future couple met for the first time, and they instantly hit it off.
Some folks suspected that their relationship had fizzled two years later, when Jenna went
to Latin America on a UNICEF project and Henry enrolled at the University of Virginia in
an MBA program.
But clearly the sparks were still flying, as she mentioned him in the acknowledgements
section of her book Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope, calling him her "patient Henry" in
2007.
The Hagers first laid eyes on each other in a campaign office, according to Jenna and
her sister Barbara Bush's book Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life.
But they really got to talking for the first time while watching a football game at the
White House, where friends introduced the pair.
"A friend of mine from college was his, like, intern at work, and we were going to watch
the Texas game, and they were like, 'Can we bring Henry?' and I'm like, 'How old is he?'"
She agreed, and so they did, and apparently the stars aligned in their favor.
There was a little bit of taboo at the beginning of their romance, since Henry worked for her
father, something she's still a little embarrassed to tell people.
Also, Henry had a girlfriend at the time, which means their friends knew they were disrupting
an existing relationship, especially once Jenna and Henry ended up kissing that night.
That's not to say that they moved in together right away, or even spent that night together.
But Jenna admitted that she shared a kiss with Henry while a Lil' Troy song was playing.
Obviously, the match was meant to be, considering they're still together to this day.
It wasn't long into the relationship that Jenna realized Henry was her forever person.
That wasn't a big surprise to Henry's mother, Maggie, who believed that her son's relationship
with Jenna was destined for marriage.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Maggie admitted it was, quote "pretty evident"
they were going to get hitched, adding,
"They have been great, great friends all this time."
However, Laura Bush didn't share that opinion, and literally went public about how her daughter
and Henry weren't heading to the altar together.
In a televised interview at the time, she said,
"This is not a serious boyfriend, I hate to have to be the one to say it on television.
But he's a very nice young man."
Of course, in the end, Laura was mistaken.
In 2007, Henry decided to ask Jenna's father for her hand in marriage.
The gesture was something his mother insisted upon out of respect for both tradition and
the family.
Maggie explained to The Washington Post,
"Anybody raised in this family follows the rules."
According to Jenna's book with her sister, asking George W. Bush for permission to marry
his daughter was a bit of a stressful experience for Henry.
"Asking the President of the United States for his permission to marry his daughter was
pretty nerve-wracking, yeah."
But before he could even get his entire speech out, President Bush interrupted him to voice
his approval, saying,
"Nope, I don't need the reasons.
Let's get Laura out here.
Laura, Henry's proposing!"
He added that he loved his daughter, even though, in his words,
"She can be a pain in the ass."
About a year before Henry decided to take their courtship to the next level, Jenna had
quite a misunderstanding during one of his romantic gestures, according to The Washington
Post.
The pair were out for dinner when, at one point, the waiters brought glasses of champagne
to their table along with a note, which Jenna thought was the "big ask."
But when Henry clarified he wasn't popping the question, she exclaimed in the middle
of the restaurant,
"I thought you were proposing!
I nearly [soiled] my pants!"
So what was really happening?
Apparently, Henry had requested fortune cookies with a message inside, and instead got a champagne
toast with a garbled version of what he'd intended to say.
The whole experience was all the more embarrassing when Jenna read about it in The Washington
Post the next day, after someone in the restaurant told the paper what had happened.
Although the restaurant incident was mortifying for both Jenna and Henry, the real proposal
came about a year later when the couple was camping out in the mountains.
Jenna was admittedly cranky on the trip since she wasn't getting enough sleep, which had
a negative impact on her mood, but back home, her family knew what was really about to happen.
"So, they kept checking in, and Barbara kept saying, 'I mean, she is so grumpy, he is going
to break up with her!
Why would he propose to her?'
But he did."
Henry woke her up before dawn, and together they hiked to Cadillac Mountain to watch the
sun rise.
"And he proposed with a secret service man in tow!"
And, of course, she happily said yes.
On May 10th, 2008, Jenna married the love of her life in a private ceremony on the Bush
family ranch in Crawford, Texas.
She wore a gown made by Oscar de la Renta, accented with minimal accessories and soft,
natural makeup, according to People magazine.
At the time, President Bush was over the moon about the wedding, and he shared that sentiment
with reporters while boarding Air Force One, telling NBC News,
"Our little girl, Jenna, married a really good guy, Henry Hager.
The wedding was spectacular.
It's just, it's all we could have hoped for."
The former president also said the day couldn't have been any more perfect for the newlyweds,
adding,
"The weather cooperated nicely.
Just as the vows were exchanged, the sun set over our lake and it was just a special day
and a wonderful day and we're mighty blessed."
It can be inspiring to see couples who have been together a long time, through good times
and bad, who still find beauty in their partnerships throughout the years.
That's something that both Jenna and Henry have observed in the couples around them,
and something they celebrated on their big day.
They asked three couples they admire to speak at their wedding, Jenna's cousin and her husband,
Henry's parents, and, of course, Jenna's grandparents, who, at the time, had been together for over
70 years.
Each pair each brought their own unique love wisdom into the pair's union.
"We always ask my grandparents, whenever we get a chance, to talk about their love."
As for her grandparents' advice for them, Jenna explained,
"What they say, and I see this, it's true, it's not just words: go 75 percent of the
way.
You can't both go 50."
In 2013, about five years after Jenna and Henry tied the knot, the couple became parents
for the first time to a baby girl.
Former President George W. Bush made the announcement on social media the day after she was born,
clearly tickled by the arrival of his granddaughter.
He wrote in a post on his Facebook page,
"Laura and I are thrilled to announce the birth of our grandchild, Margaret Laura 'Mila'
Hager.
Mila, daughter of Jenna and Henry Hager, is named for her grandmothers."
The former president also shared the specifics on where baby Mila was born, which surprisingly
was not in either Texas or Maine.
He revealed,
"She was born last night, April 13th, at 8:43 pm in New York City.
We met our beautiful granddaughter today.
Jenna and Mila are healthy.
And our family is elated."
The Hager family once again grew larger on August 13th, 2015, when the couple's second
child, another daughter, was born.
Jenna wrote in a post on her Instagram page,
"Welcome to the WORLD Poppy Louise Hager.
Named after my darling Gamps who went by Poppy during his childhood.
We are in LOVE."
The decision to name their baby after George H.W. Bush was an easy one, as both of the
Hagers looked up to him and wanted to carry on his legacy.
And in interview with Today, Jenna explained,
"We are proud to name her after a man we so adore.
We are thrilled."
Poppy's birth came after a summer of reflection for Jenna, who wanted to savor the last days
of being a family of three together.
In a blog post for the Today Parenting Team, she wrote,
"I want to enjoy every moment of our last summer as just the three of us.
Once 'baby sissy' arrives things for SURE won't be boring.
Exhausting yes, boring no!"
"Congratulations Mommy on your new show, can we be in it?
Love you, bye."
On May 10th, 2018, Jenna and her husband celebrated a significant milestone together, they had
officially been married for a decade, which Jenna commemorated on social media.
She wrote in a post on Instagram,
"TEN years with this one by my side.
[I] could never imagine on that day in May how beautiful life would be.
Love you H."
Jenna took to Instagram a few hours later to share what Henry had gotten her as an anniversary
gift, as well.
In the caption, she shared,
"The best anniversary gift from my husband: pictures from 10 years ago of my grandparents
at our wedding.
A reminder: Life is precious and goes by too fast."
Jenna also opened up about the occasion on Today, which took place just one day after
her husband's 40th birthday.
She admitted,
"It goes by so fast.
I'm a lucky human."
One thing that Jenna likes to do in order to honor her relationship with her husband
is to give him handwritten love notes, a tradition she inherited from her grandparents.
George H.W. Bush was known for sending such letters both to his wife and to other friends
and loved ones, a practice that Jenna honors to this day.
She opened up about this family ritual in 2019 at a bookstore as part of the Today show's
"Share Love TODAY" series, reading aloud a note she'd previously written to Henry.
The note read,
"Your love is like the Post-it note with stick figure drawings of ships passing you left
for me on the bathroom mirror when I returned home late.
I'd been flying most of the day and I was dehydrated, and thirsty for home, for you."
The end of the note rounded out the sweetness with:
"Your love is like that note.
It is simple and solid and thoughtful."
The Hagers became parents for a third time on August 2nd, 2019 at 9:02 a.m., when their
very first son was born.
"I realized that boys, and no offense to the seven boys that watch this show, but men are
a little bit simpler."
In an interview with People magazine, Jenna gushed,
"We are overcome with joy to welcome Henry Harold 'Hal' Hager into this world.
He is named Henry after many on his father's side including his dear dad and his paternal
grandfather.
Harold comes from my maternal grandfather, Pa, who I loved dearly and was unable to keep
a son long enough to name."
What a sweet way to honor both of their family's legacies.
In addition to the Hager couple being over the moon, Hal's two siblings were also excited
to welcome him into the family.
Jenna shared,
"His sisters are thrilled to have a little brother and already nicknamed his nickname,
exclaiming 'welcome to the world Hal Pal.'"
It sounds like all is well at the Hager household.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more List videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.