'Today' Show Co-Host Jenna Bush Hager Allays Engagement Ring Fears

Today show co-host Jenna Bush Hager revealed the reason why she wasn't wearing her sapphire and diamond engagement ring during last Wednesday's segment called "Social Dilemmas." Hager has been married to Henry Chase Hager for 16 years and they share three children. Was something amiss?

As Hager and co-host Hoda Kotb attempted to provide engagement ring advice to a viewer who was anxious because she expected her boyfriend to propose with his mom's "hideous" heirloom ring, Hager first addressed the elephant in the room — her unadorned ring finger.

"I'm not wearing my ring, but don't worry," she said. "You saw Henry raising me up. We're still happy together, but I broke my finger."

Then Hager went on to describe her own experience with a family heirloom and how Henry "redid a ring" that she believe once belonged to his grandmother.

Then the co-hosts took a crack at solving the dilemma faced by a member of the studio audience: "It's a tradition in [Lance's] family to pass down an heirloom engagement ring whenever the men are going to propose," the person wrote. "His mother's ring is hideous. If he proposes to me using the ring, do I fake like I like it or tell him to get me a different ring?"

Hager took the stance that when it comes to an engagement ring, the bride-to-be needs to be very clear about her likes and dislikes.

"You've got to figure this out way before he proposes to you," she advised. "You don't say, Hey Lance, I don't like the ring. You say, 'This is what I'm kinda into.'"

Then she turned to the studio audience and stated, "You don't think people have those conversations before they get engaged?"

Kotb argued the opposite point of view.

"You just made a commitment for your life," she said. "It shouldn't be about the ring. If something has been in the family for years and years, it means the world to them. She knows the ring has been passed down from generation to generation… so this heirloom [is a] beautiful representation of his family."

Hager shot back, "You leave the heirloom at home and you say, 'I hope we're really going to get married, Lance. I love you so much. And Lance, just to let you know, I love this gold band, just like this. Oh, and look at Susan's ring.'"

"You don't think people drop hints like that when they're getting engaged?" she continued. "They sure do."

"It means a lot to him," Kotb argued. "It's an engagement ring. It means a lot. It means a lot. Take the ring. Say, 'Thank you.' Take the ring, say, 'I love you.'"

Then, pointing at her ring finger, she added, "You're more important than this. There are physical things and there are emotional things."

"What if [the ring] is important to her?" questioned Hager.

With no clear answer, the hosts moved on to the next topic. Please check out the segment at this link. The engagement ring banter runs until the 3:20 mark.

Kotb announced last week that she will be leaving the Today show in 2025 in order to spend more time with her family. She joined the show in 2007 and has been a co-anchor since 2018.

Hager's engagement ring was also the subject of a Today show segment back in April of this year. The co-host had recounted how she nearly lost ALL of her fine jewelry — including her engagement ring — at JFK Airport in New York City.

The 42-year-old daughter of former President George W. Bush recalled how she lost track of a bag of jewelry as she was “racing to a shoot” while on assignment for the Today show.

In a stroke of good fortune, a fellow traveler had spotted the unattended bag and did the right thing.

“Some lovely man who I’ve never met returned it to security,” she said.

Even though the story had a happy ending, Hager never shared it with her husband. He learned about the incident at the same time as the show’s five million viewers.

“I couldn’t even tell Henry because if I lost our engagement ring, it’s priceless,” she said. “So, I harbored a secret from Henry, too, which was hard.”

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube / TODAY with Hoda & Jenna.