Jenna Bush Hager 'Smooched' Husband on 1st Meeting & Proposed to Him Later – They've Made It to 14 Years

• Jenna Bush Hager's husband, Henry, was her dad's staffer and had a girlfriend when they met.

• Henry Hager was "crazy" about Jenna yet turned down her proposal to marry her.

• Years later, he came to her father to ask for her hand. President Bush was very laconic. Now Henry and Jenna have three kids and still show love to each other after 14 years.

Jenna Bush Hager, George W. Bush's daughter, is married to Henry Hager, and the couple has welcomed three children together, but they did not exactly have a smooth start to their relationship.

Before the couple celebrated their wedding in 2008, they had a somewhat rocky road to the walk down the aisle. The couple is now celebrating fourteen years together with their family.

Jenna and Henry's romance almost didn't have the chance to begin because Jenna thought that Henry was too old for her. Henry is only a couple of years older than Jenna, but she admitted that he "felt too old."

However, when she realized that his age wouldn't be a problem, the pair began to explore the possibility of a relationship. Yet Henry had a girlfriend at the time, and it was not easy for him and Jenna.

Talking about their first meeting on "Today" with Hoda Kotb, Jenna mentioned that she and her friends were going to watch a football game, and one of her friends, who was Henry's intern, asked if he could come.

Jenna was initially hesitant because Henry worked for her father at the time, and she had the age factor in mind. However, she admitted that she and Henry "smooched" on the first meeting.

The couple began dating in and were married in 2008. However, Jenna proposed to Henry before he even got the chance to ask her. However, they only got married after Henry asked George for Jenna's hand in marriage.

Before they could get to their happily ever after, though, they had a couple of bumps in the road. Jenna revealed that their first date was awful because Henry's car ran out of gas, rolled backward, and hit the Secret Service.

Despite their difficult first date, the couple made it through and stuck together for many years. They have now built a beautiful life together, and each has a successful career in their chosen field.

Jenna Proposed to Henry Six Years before Their Wedding

Once again, speaking to Hoda Kotb, Jenna revealed that she was about 21 when she asked Henry to marry her. She mentioned that they were dancing at a Christmas party when she confessed her feelings for him, saying:

"This is it. I know it. Let's just get married. What are we waiting for?"

However, Henry turned down her proposal. He did not turn it down because he was not in love with her or didn't want to marry her, though. Instead, he said: "I'm crazy about you, but you're young."

In 2007, Henry asked George and his wife for Jenna's hand in marriage, and the proposal was accepted. The couple got married in a beautiful wedding ceremony in 2008.

George and Laura Bush were fond of Henry and knew he would be a good fit for the person their daughter married, so when he asked them for Jenna's hand, George gave an enthusiastic "yes."

Talking about the day Henry came to speak to him and Laura about marrying Jenna, George recalled:

"So the guy comes to see me, and he says, 'I want to marry your daughter. I said, 'Done deal.'"

Jenna thought Henry would propose one year earlier on a date night, but Henry waited for the perfect time. The actual proposal happened on a hike at sunrise.

Jenna revealed on "Today" that she and Henry went on a hike, and as the sun rose, he proposed to her, saying that the place the sun hit first symbolized optimism. Jenna said that Henry had a whole piece written for the occasion and didn't sleep because he was up writing.

Jenna eagerly accepted the proposal. However, being the president's daughter meant she needed extra protection, so the Secret Service was with them. Jenna said it was a little awkward, but it had all been forgotten.

Jenna and Henry got married on the Bush family's 1,600-acre ranch in Texas. George walked Jenna down the aisle and called their wedding "spectacular." He also mentioned that their wedding was "everything [they] could have hoped for."

At a press conference after his daughter's wedding, George spoke about his feelings on the matter, saying:

"Our little girl, Jenna, married a really good guy."

When asked about changing her last name to a hyphenate, Jenna said she didn't have to think twice about taking her husband's name. She mentioned that although she loved her family name, she thought it would be nice to have her own name, too.

The Couple's Love and Parenthood

By April 2013, Jenna and Henry had welcomed their first daughter, Margaret "Mila" Hager. Their second daughter, Poppy, was born in 2015, and their surprise baby boy, Hal, came in 2019. When asked how she felt about giving birth to her third baby and expanding her family, she said:

"I feel good. I feel happy."

Jenna and Henry's relationship has been lovely since they got married, and Jenna once left the "Today" audience in tears when she read a letter from her husband. In the letter, she called Henry's love "simple, solid, and thoughtful."

The thoughtfulness has not stopped since Jenna read that letter in 2019. In 2021, she mentioned that while she was bathing her daughters, Henry was downstairs cleaning the kitchen.

She then said that when she woke up in the morning and went into the kitchen, she saw that after Henry had cleaned the kitchen, he put out her favorite coffee mug near the coffee machine, with her coffee pods and her favorite spoon.

Jenna and Henry's love has undoubtedly stood the test of time, and the couple has been loving and delighting in one another's company since they first began dating all those years ago.