The Awkward Theft Incident Jenna Bush Hager Had With Husband Henry At The White House

Forging a good relationship with your partner's parents can be a rather intimidating task. And Henry Hager, the husband of "Today" host Jenna Bush Hager, knows this all too well. After all, your future in-laws being the literal president and first lady of the United States probably isn't going to do much to settle your nerves (especially when you're getting on theirs as it is, however unintentionally). And, while the couple had plenty of awkward moments together on their own, such as the second-date blunder Henry Hager will never live down and Jenna Bush Hager's husband rejecting her drunken proposal after just three months of dating, things got especially uncomfortable during the brief period of time when the two were living in the White House with her family.

During an October 2025 episode of "Today with Jenna & Friends" the titular host recalled that she decided to stay with her parents, then-President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, before moving in with Henry ahead of their wedding. Jenna, who was in the midst of a book tour at the time (hence her living situation being in flux), invited Henry to stay with them over the holidays. However, things got tense when Laura accused her future son-in-law of drunkenly stealing the Joseph figure from the White House's nativity scene. Henry steadfastly pleaded his innocence, but Laura refused to let him off the hook, only relenting after staffers finally found the figure elsewhere. 

Jenna interpreted this as her mother being fed up with their bad habits and looking for any reason to expedite the process of them moving out, noting, "What that said was, 'Ya'll gotta get out of here. I'm tired of you getting in late [...] and I'm getting grumpy with your towels on the ground and such.'" 

The stolen Joseph incident wasn't the only time that Jenna Bush Hager's White House life complicated her relationship with husband Henry Hager. Awkwardness similarly struck when President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush publicly spilled the beans about the couple's 2007 engagement before they even had a chance to announce the big news themselves. As Jenna detailed on "Today with Jenna & Friends," also in October 2025, Henry's initial proposal went much better than expected. Apparently, he constructed an entire pitch to convince the president to let him marry his daughter, only for George W. to give Henry his blessing without actually hearing it. 

"First of all, he was totally nervous so he prepared this whole seven-point plan and then we sat down with my dad and my dad goes, 'No, you can marry her. I don't need to hear point two, point one is enough,'" Jenna shared (via People). But, seemingly not being able to read the room, the Bushes both put out a preemptive statement announcing that their daughter had gotten engaged, with Jenna and Henry finding out in real time that their romance was making headlines. "We were at the airport in Boston, and we look up and on CNN. I guess my parents put out a statement. So I looked up and it was like, 'Jenna Bush to be married,' and I'm like, 'Ah!' I hadn't told anybody," she revealed. 

In-laws! Jenna acknowledged that she probably could have spelled out the etiquette for her folks, just to be safe, but simply didn't think to do so at the time. "I guess I should have said, 'Hey, hold off on the statements.' But I was 25 years old," she remarked.