Jenna Bush Hager Unveils New Role at NBC After 16 Years on Today

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Jenna Bush Hageris starting the new year with not only a new costar, but also a new position.

Jenna Wolfe, one of the hosts of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, is producing a new NBC drama series called Protection. She’s working on the show with Josh Safran, the creator of Quantico, and Ben Spector, an executive producer known for Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico.

The show’s story is personal to the former first daughter—the child of George W. Bush and Laura Bush—as it reflects experiences close to her own life.

Jenna explained to her new co-host, Sheinelle Jones, on the January 14th morning show that the topic involves various law enforcement agencies, including some connected to the Secret Service. She added, with a knowing tone, that she’s familiar with the subject.

The 44-year-old said they’re hoping to begin filming this spring and expressed a lot of excitement about it.

The Emmy-winning host, who has three children – Mila, 12, Poppy, 10, and Hal, 6 – with her husband Henry Hager, shared that she was very involved in developing the show because she loved the story in the first episode.

She explained she attended every pitch meeting because she loved watching the surprised reactions on the executives’ faces – not all of them were cynical, but many were – when the story took an unexpected turn. She emphasized that the twist in the story was particularly effective.

Jenna started her career as a public school teacher in Washington, D.C., for four years. In 2009, she joined the Today show as a correspondent. Later, after Kathie Lee Gifford’s departure in 2019, she began co-hosting the show’s fourth hour with Hoda Kotb.

Since then, Jenna started the Today show’s book club, Read With Jenna, and made a deal with NBCUniversal Studio Group to produce shows. Protection is the first project her company is making under this deal.

Jenna expressed her surprise at being involved in a scripted TV show, jokingly asking on the January 14th episode of Today, “Who would have guessed I’d be doing something like this?”

To learn more about Jenna and the rest of the Today show family, keep reading… 

Sheenelle Jones, a cohost on Today, has three children: her son Kayin, and twins Uche and Clara. She shares them with her late husband, Uche Ojeh, who sadly passed away in May 2025 after fighting brain cancer with incredible strength.

In a 2015 essay for Today, Sheinelle explained that she encourages her three children to support each other and act as a team. However, she’s also realized that each child needs to feel individually special and recognized for who they are.

In 2014, three years after marrying broadcaster Lindsay Czarniak, he became a father – a role he considers his most meaningful yet.

And now, he seizes every opportunity to gush about their son Delano and daughter Sybil.

In a May 2024 interview on Today, Melvin shared that a big motivation for his hard work is providing for his children, telling his son, ‘When I wake up in the morning, I think about you and your sister.’

Oh my gosh, I just have to talk about Jenna Bush Hager! She’s seriously the sweetest, and I adore her little family. She and her husband, Henry Hager, have three amazing kids – Mila, Poppy, and Hal. They’re all so cute, and I can’t help but follow every little update about them! It just makes my day seeing how happy they all are together.

During a March 2025 interview on a morning show, she explained that while three isn’t a perfect number in general, it feels right for her family.

The former host marked another Halloween as complete, sharing that she enjoyed the day with her daughter, Haley Joy.

She is also mom to daughter Hope Catherine.

The former NBC Nightly News anchor shares sons Stefan Holt and Cameron Holt with his wife Carol Hagen. 

But more recently, he became a proud “granddude” to three grandchildren: Henry, Samuel and James.

Holt shared that when his daughter-in-law was expecting her first child, she asked him and his wife what they wanted to be called as grandparents. He told Kelly Clarkson that he chose ‘Granddude’ because ‘grand’ acknowledges his age, while ‘dude’ suggests he’s still young at heart and has plenty of energy.

 

In 2020, the news anchor and his wife, Siri Pinter, had their fourth child, Goldie. She joined their other children: Jackson, Etta, and London.

 

Hoda’s former colleague, Cassidy Gifford, is a devoted mother to her two children, Cassidy and Cody Gifford, whom she had with her late husband, Frank Gifford.

The TV personality and her husband, Mike Feldman, have two children: Vale Guthrie Feldman and Charles “Charley” Max Feldman.

The anchor and his wife Deborah Roberts are parents to Leila Roker and Nicholas Albert Roker.

The host of Sunday Today, has been married to Christina Geist since 2003. Together, they have two children: George William and Lucie Joy Geist.

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2026-01-15 02:17