Jenna Bush Hager says she proposed to husband Henry Hager at 22 after having “several cocktails”.Photo:Jamie McCarthy/GettyJenna Bush Hageris sharing new details about her spontaneous marriage proposal.On Monday’s episode ofToday with Hoda & Jenna, the former first daughter, 41, recounted how she popped the question to husband Henry Hager several years before their actual engagement — and the moment involved a little liquid courage.“I proposed to Henry after several cocktails," she confessed to E! News presenter Justin Sylvester, who was filling in for co-hostHoda Kotb.“I was 22 years old, my sister was standing with us, we were dancing and Barbara just started shuffling backwards. She was like, ‘What is happening here?’” Jenna continued. “We’d only been dating three months. He told me he loved me and I’m like, ‘Me too! Let’s get married!’”After Sylvester jumped in, saying, “Asking a man to marry him after three months and three martinis is a lot,” Jenna revealed that Henry, 45, actually turned her down.“He said no, but then five years later we got married,” she said. “He didn’t say no — he was just like, ‘Uh uh uh.’”Henry waited a few more years to do the “real proposal,” popping the question to Jenna in 2007 when she was 25. Things moved quickly after that — maybe a little too quickly for Jenna. “Then we got engaged, and my parents put out a statement because my dad was president,” she recalled to Sylvester. “We were sitting in the airport and it came on CNN that we were engaged and I was like, ‘Woah, woah, woah, what?'““I mean, I’m happy — I married him, I have three kids, I adore him — but I was like, ‘What? What happens if for some reason…you know?’ It felt like so much pressure for both of us,” she explained.During a previous episode ofToday with Hoda & Jennain February, Jenna admitted to Kotb, 58, thatshe gave her husband an ultimatumto either propose to her or she would move to Latin America.“When we were dating, I was leaving Washington, D.C., and I kind of — in a dramatic fashion you may or may not recognize — said, ‘If you don’t want me to leave for Latin America, we need to get engaged,’” she said in the Valentine’s Day episode. “It was kind of like a manipulative ultimatum. Real manipulative. And [I said], ‘You know, there are very handsome men over there, but could we get engaged?'“Jenna Bush Hager and husband Henry Hager cut the cake at their 2008 wedding.Shealah Craighead/The White House via FilmMagicHenry outright told her, “I’m not going to ask you to marry me,” but she began to think he had changed his mind when they went on a date to a fancy restaurant.“They brought two glasses of champagne at the end of the meal, and tied around one was the fortune, which they got wrong. It was supposed to say something like, ‘Go and when you come back, I’ll be here.’ But all it said was, ‘Don’t go.’ With champagne,” she said.“And Henry is not a champagne fella, so I was like, ‘Yes! I will marry you!'” she continued. “And his face dropped. He could have cried.“But that wasn’t the end of it, as she revealed that another couple dining at the restaurant at the time calledTheWashington Postand told them what happened.“And so inThe Washington Postthere was an article that was like, ‘On a date night Jenna thought she was getting engaged but turns out no she wasn’t.’ Restaurant eaters heard her say, ‘I nearly (beeped) my pants’ — it said the word ‘soiled,'” she recalled.“So Henry found that article fromThe Washington Post, calledThe Washington Post, got the article, and framed it for Valentine’s Day so that we could always remember the humiliation that comes with love,” she continued.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.After the long-awaited proposal finally happened in 2007, Jenna and Henrywed in a private ceremonyone year later at former President Bush’s secluded 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas. The pair later welcomed three children together:Margaret “Mila” Laura, 10;Poppy Louise, 7; andHenry “Hal” Harold, 4.
Jenna Bush Hager says she proposed to husband Henry Hager at 22 after having “several cocktails”.Photo:Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Jenna Bush Hageris sharing new details about her spontaneous marriage proposal.On Monday’s episode ofToday with Hoda & Jenna, the former first daughter, 41, recounted how she popped the question to husband Henry Hager several years before their actual engagement — and the moment involved a little liquid courage.“I proposed to Henry after several cocktails,” she confessed to E! News presenter Justin Sylvester, who was filling in for co-hostHoda Kotb.“I was 22 years old, my sister was standing with us, we were dancing and Barbara just started shuffling backwards. She was like, ‘What is happening here?’” Jenna continued. “We’d only been dating three months. He told me he loved me and I’m like, ‘Me too! Let’s get married!’”After Sylvester jumped in, saying, “Asking a man to marry him after three months and three martinis is a lot,” Jenna revealed that Henry, 45, actually turned her down.“He said no, but then five years later we got married,” she said. “He didn’t say no — he was just like, ‘Uh uh uh.’”Henry waited a few more years to do the “real proposal,” popping the question to Jenna in 2007 when she was 25. Things moved quickly after that — maybe a little too quickly for Jenna. “Then we got engaged, and my parents put out a statement because my dad was president,” she recalled to Sylvester. “We were sitting in the airport and it came on CNN that we were engaged and I was like, ‘Woah, woah, woah, what?'““I mean, I’m happy — I married him, I have three kids, I adore him — but I was like, ‘What? What happens if for some reason…you know?’ It felt like so much pressure for both of us,” she explained.During a previous episode ofToday with Hoda & Jennain February, Jenna admitted to Kotb, 58, thatshe gave her husband an ultimatumto either propose to her or she would move to Latin America.“When we were dating, I was leaving Washington, D.C., and I kind of — in a dramatic fashion you may or may not recognize — said, ‘If you don’t want me to leave for Latin America, we need to get engaged,’” she said in the Valentine’s Day episode. “It was kind of like a manipulative ultimatum. Real manipulative. And [I said], ‘You know, there are very handsome men over there, but could we get engaged?'“Jenna Bush Hager and husband Henry Hager cut the cake at their 2008 wedding.Shealah Craighead/The White House via FilmMagicHenry outright told her, “I’m not going to ask you to marry me,” but she began to think he had changed his mind when they went on a date to a fancy restaurant.“They brought two glasses of champagne at the end of the meal, and tied around one was the fortune, which they got wrong. It was supposed to say something like, ‘Go and when you come back, I’ll be here.’ But all it said was, ‘Don’t go.’ With champagne,” she said.“And Henry is not a champagne fella, so I was like, ‘Yes! I will marry you!'” she continued. “And his face dropped. He could have cried.“But that wasn’t the end of it, as she revealed that another couple dining at the restaurant at the time calledTheWashington Postand told them what happened.“And so inThe Washington Postthere was an article that was like, ‘On a date night Jenna thought she was getting engaged but turns out no she wasn’t.’ Restaurant eaters heard her say, ‘I nearly (beeped) my pants’ — it said the word ‘soiled,'” she recalled.“So Henry found that article fromThe Washington Post, calledThe Washington Post, got the article, and framed it for Valentine’s Day so that we could always remember the humiliation that comes with love,” she continued.Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.After the long-awaited proposal finally happened in 2007, Jenna and Henrywed in a private ceremonyone year later at former President Bush’s secluded 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas. The pair later welcomed three children together:Margaret “Mila” Laura, 10;Poppy Louise, 7; andHenry “Hal” Harold, 4.
Jenna Bush Hageris sharing new details about her spontaneous marriage proposal.
On Monday’s episode ofToday with Hoda & Jenna, the former first daughter, 41, recounted how she popped the question to husband Henry Hager several years before their actual engagement — and the moment involved a little liquid courage.
“I proposed to Henry after several cocktails,” she confessed to E! News presenter Justin Sylvester, who was filling in for co-hostHoda Kotb.
“I was 22 years old, my sister was standing with us, we were dancing and Barbara just started shuffling backwards. She was like, ‘What is happening here?’” Jenna continued. “We’d only been dating three months. He told me he loved me and I’m like, ‘Me too! Let’s get married!’”
After Sylvester jumped in, saying, “Asking a man to marry him after three months and three martinis is a lot,” Jenna revealed that Henry, 45, actually turned her down.
“He said no, but then five years later we got married,” she said. “He didn’t say no — he was just like, ‘Uh uh uh.’”
Henry waited a few more years to do the “real proposal,” popping the question to Jenna in 2007 when she was 25. Things moved quickly after that — maybe a little too quickly for Jenna. “Then we got engaged, and my parents put out a statement because my dad was president,” she recalled to Sylvester. “We were sitting in the airport and it came on CNN that we were engaged and I was like, ‘Woah, woah, woah, what?'”
“I mean, I’m happy — I married him, I have three kids, I adore him — but I was like, ‘What? What happens if for some reason…you know?’ It felt like so much pressure for both of us,” she explained.
During a previous episode ofToday with Hoda & Jennain February, Jenna admitted to Kotb, 58, thatshe gave her husband an ultimatumto either propose to her or she would move to Latin America.
“When we were dating, I was leaving Washington, D.C., and I kind of — in a dramatic fashion you may or may not recognize — said, ‘If you don’t want me to leave for Latin America, we need to get engaged,’” she said in the Valentine’s Day episode. “It was kind of like a manipulative ultimatum. Real manipulative. And [I said], ‘You know, there are very handsome men over there, but could we get engaged?'”
Jenna Bush Hager and husband Henry Hager cut the cake at their 2008 wedding.Shealah Craighead/The White House via FilmMagic
Shealah Craighead/The White House via FilmMagic
Henry outright told her, “I’m not going to ask you to marry me,” but she began to think he had changed his mind when they went on a date to a fancy restaurant.
“They brought two glasses of champagne at the end of the meal, and tied around one was the fortune, which they got wrong. It was supposed to say something like, ‘Go and when you come back, I’ll be here.’ But all it said was, ‘Don’t go.’ With champagne,” she said.
“And Henry is not a champagne fella, so I was like, ‘Yes! I will marry you!'” she continued. “And his face dropped. He could have cried.”
But that wasn’t the end of it, as she revealed that another couple dining at the restaurant at the time calledTheWashington Postand told them what happened.
“And so inThe Washington Postthere was an article that was like, ‘On a date night Jenna thought she was getting engaged but turns out no she wasn’t.’ Restaurant eaters heard her say, ‘I nearly (beeped) my pants’ — it said the word ‘soiled,'” she recalled.
“So Henry found that article fromThe Washington Post, calledThe Washington Post, got the article, and framed it for Valentine’s Day so that we could always remember the humiliation that comes with love,” she continued.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
After the long-awaited proposal finally happened in 2007, Jenna and Henrywed in a private ceremonyone year later at former President Bush’s secluded 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas. The pair later welcomed three children together:Margaret “Mila” Laura, 10;Poppy Louise, 7; andHenry “Hal” Harold, 4.
source: people.com
