Leap Day ladies! Jenna Bush Hager, Rita Ora & more female celebs' sweet proposal stories

Kristen Bell and her now-husband Dax Shepard didn’t want to tie the knot until every couple had the right to marry. Once same-sex marriage became legal in California, Kristen took to Twitter to ask the question: "@Daxshepard1 will you marry me? Xo #marriageequality #loveislove." His reply? "[Expletive] yes!!!!!"

After keeping her engagement to Taika Waititi secret, Rita Ora said she was entertained when she saw that speculation had got the details of her proposal completely wrong.

After less than one year of dating, Rita proposed while they were vacationing in Palm Springs in the summer of 2022, just weeks before they tied the knot in Los Angeles. "It’s actually been quite entertaining for us to see the different stories people made up and all the while getting to keep it to ourselves,” Rita told Vogue, while her husband added: "Rita [Ora] proposed to me, and I said 'yes' instantly."

Jodie Turner-Smith's ex-husband Joshua Jackson previously revealed on The Tonight Show that the model proposed to him in Nicaragua. The Dawson's Creek actor told host Jimmy Fallon in 2021: "She asked me, yeah, on New Year's Eve. We were in Nicaragua. It was very beautiful, incredibly romantic. We were walking down the beach, and she asked me to marry her."

White Noise star Jodie filed for divorce in October 2023 and later told The Times: "I don’t think it’s a failure. We obviously had such a beautiful moment together. And now it’s time for a new moment for both of us."

Britney proposed to Kevin Federline during a flight from Ireland to New York in 2004. She told Entertainment Weekly: “All of a sudden I said, ‘What if you want to get married?’ And I kind of went from there to asking him if he would marry me.” The pair divorced three years later in 2007.

Pink took her marital status into her own hands by asking motocross star Carey Hart to marry her during one of his track races. As he entered the third lap, she held up a pit board that read, “Will you marry me?”.

Succession star Sarah Snook opened up about her love story and secret proposal to long-term friend and comedian Dave Lawson. "At the beginning of the pandemic last year, I got locked down in Melbourne with one of my best mates and we fell in love," Snook told Vogue Australia.

"We've been friends since 2014, lived together, travelled together, always excited to see each other, but totally platonic. We've just never been single at the same time. I proposed and we got married in February in my backyard."

Jenna Bush Hager recalled how she proposed to Henry Hager aged 22, years before they actually got engaged. On Today with Hoda & Jenna, she confessed to E!: "I proposed to Henry after several cocktails… We’d only been dating three months. He told me he loved me and I’m like, 'Me too! Let’s get married!'"

She continued: "He said no, but then five years later we got married," referring to Henry's "real proposal" in 2007.

Singer Jennifer Hudson was proposed to by actor David Otunga on her birthday in 2008. Jennifer then returned the favour by doing the same for David on his birthday. They were together for 10 years, before divorcing in 2017.  

Fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg turned entrepreneur Barry Diller’s proposal down several times, before deciding to ask the question herself. Speaking to O Magazine, she said: “One year I didn’t know what to give him for his birthday, and I called him and said ‘You know, if you want, for your birthday I’ll marry you’.”

Famed Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor had seven husbands but only popped the question to one. According to the Guardian, she asked British actor Michael Wilding to marry her, before they went on to tie the knot in 1952 and had two children together. They later divorced.