Jenna Bush Hager accepted her husband, Henry's marriage proposal back in 2007 – but he wasn't the first one in their relationship to pop the question.
The Today with Hoda & Jenna star – who celebrated her 15th wedding anniversary in May – revealed on Monday's show that she was the one who first proposed to Henry just three months into their relationship after "several cocktails" during a night out.
However, Henry didn't give Jenna the answer she was hoping for, as she explained to E! News presenter Justin Sylvester, who was filling in for co-host Hoda Kotb, that he turned down her offer of marriage. Watch what she said about her failed proposal in the video below.
It all turned out well in the end as three years later, Henry did a "real proposal" and asked Jenna to marry him after asking her father, George W. Bush – who was president at the time – for her hand in marriage during a trip to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
Jenna explained that Henry was so nervous about asking her dad for his blessing, he read the Bible beforehand. "[It was] not easy. He actually read the Bible," she told Justin.
© InstagramRecalling Henry's elusive behavior during their stay, she added: "I was like, 'Come see the movie,' or 'We’re going to go do this.' We had friends there, and he was like, 'No.' He called my dad. He's like, 'I'd like to come speak to you.' He's like, 'I'm taking a nap. Come in a couple hours.' So, he had to sit and stew."
When it came to finally speaking to the former president, Henry was more than prepared. "He had like a seven-point plan of why he wanted to marry me and how he was going to take care of me," she explained. "My dad goes, 'Henry, I said yes. You don't need to go through anything else — Laura, Henry’s proposing,' and that was that. Good thing he did it."
Following their engagement, Jenna's parents released a statement to publicly announce the news, but it was a move that put a lot of pressure on the couple. "My parents put out a statement because my dad was president. We were sitting in the airport, and it came on CNN that we were engaged. I was like, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa,'" she recalled.
© Instagram"I'm happy I married him. I have three kids. I adore him," she added. "But I was like, 'What? Like what happens if for some reason [it doesn't work out]?' It felt like so much pressure for both of us."
Jenna and Henry – who first met in 2004 when he was working for her dad's re-election campaign – married in May 2008 at the Bush family's 1,600-acre estate in Crawford, Texas. They now share three children, daughters Mila, 10, and Poppy, who will be eight next month, and son Hal, four.
