Next week on Today With Jenna & Friends is going to be a family affair.
Joined by her recent guest host Brooke Shields, Jenna Bush Hager announced next week’s lineup of hosts, some of whom we have yet to see on the show.
“Next week is family week!” she announced today. “I’m a little freaked out. My sister will be here, which we’ve done that before, that will be very safe.” She then announced that her cousins, Wendy Stapleton and Sam Bush Leblond, will be hosting next Wednesday (March 26). And then to finish the week off is the most shocking guest of all: Her husband, Henry Hager.
“I’m already blushing,” she said with a laugh.
“Has he done this before?” Shields asked. “That’s so sweet! Wait, how is he dealing with it? Is he excited?”
Bush Hager admitted her husband’s feeling “a little overwhelmed.”
“He’s prepping, he’s been texting with all of the producers. He has ideas, I don’t know any of them,” she said. “I think it’s gonna be slightly wild.”
This will be his very first time co-hosting the show. Which begs the question: As Bush Hager continues her search for a new permanent co-host, could she and her husband be the next Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos?
Shields gave Bush Hager a warning ahead of her husband’s appearance: “You’re gonna create a monster. He’s gonna be like, I got some notes for you!”
This isn’t the first time someone’s spouse helped co-host the show. Willie Geist recently revealed he and his wife once co-hosted the fourth hour of Today together when Bush Hager was on maternity leave. “[Christina Geist] and I hosted the show and she was great at it. Just like a civilian just pulled up and did a great job,” he said of his wife during a recent episode of Today.
Bush Hager has talked about her marriage several times on the show, so it will be fun to finally see the lovebirds in action.
But her twin sister, Barbara, has co-hosted the show before. Barbara was a natural on the air when she joined Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb in November 2023, but the sisters did get into an awkward squabble when they bickered over a boy they both had a crush on in the seventh grade.
Perhaps ABC’s Live With Kelly And Mark will find some new competition when the fourth hour of Today becomes Today With Jenna & Henry.
Today with Jenna & Friends airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.