Jenna Bush Hager and Savannah Guthrie are close friends through and through.
They first got to know each other when Savannah became a TODAY co-anchor in 2012, and since then, their bond has only grown.
“We clicked right away when we met in person,” Savannah said May 19 on TODAY about Jenna.
“There was something sort of in our DNA that spoke to each other, and I felt like even though I was meeting her for the first time, I’d known her for many, many years,” Jenna said.
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In an Instagram post for Savannah’s birthday in 2024, Jenna called her pal “my dearest girl, soul-sister, sister wife, expert listener and wise wisdom-seeker.”
“What a wild and wonderful life that you came into my life! Love you!” she added.
Savannah has also gushed about her affection for Jenna.
“Happy birthday to this sparkly swizzly marvel of a human,” she wrote in a 2023 Instagram post for Jenna’s birthday.
Jenna and Savannah may have started working together over 10 years ago, but their connection goes back even further. Keep reading to learn more about Jenna and Savannah’s friendship through the years.
2008: Savannah reported on Jenna’s wedding for NBC News
Savannah played a role in Jenna’s 2008 wedding to Henry Hager — but not in the way you might expect.
Before they even knew each other, Savannah reported for NBC News on her future friend’s nuptials.
“Don’t feel bad if you weren’t invited,” a then-brunette Savannah, who had been with NBC News for just six months at the time, said in her news report about Jenna’s special day.
“Only about 200 of the Bushes’ close friends and family are attending the wedding of Jenna and her longtime boyfriend, Henry Hager,” her report continued.
Little did either of them know that one day, they would be chatting about the wedding on air.
In 2019, the two joked on TODAY that when Savannah reported on Jenna’s wedding, she was clearly not at the Bush family ranch near Crawford, Texas.
“That’s, like, fake hay bales,” Savannah said.
2012: They got to know each other when Savannah became a TODAY co-anchor
Jenna recalled how she and Savannah became friends after Savannah joined TODAY as a co-anchor in July 2012.
“I knew nothing about Savannah Guthrie before she sat down next to me in the makeup chair five years ago,” Jenna wrote in a 2017 essay about her close friend. “I knew nothing about her, even though we had overlapped in Washington, D.C., for several years, knew some of the same people and had even been in the same room at the same time.”
Jenna marveled at how quickly she and Savannah bonded.
“Sometimes, as I watch our daughters play like sisters or when we spend an entire car ride talking about life so rapidly that we barely breathe, I can’t believe Savannah and I are new friends, that our friendship just started only five years ago,” she wrote.
“And then I’m grateful that this job brought us together,” she added.
July 2017: Jenna called herself ‘lucky’ to be Savannah’s friend
Five years after getting to know Savannah, Jenna honored her close friend in a heartfelt essay for TODAY. She praised the way Savannah “leads with the heart” and “lights up” for her kids, husband, family and friends.
She also commended her friend’s work ethic.
“Savannah works hard — sometimes so diligently that she leaves parties by 7 p.m. in order to wake up at 3 a.m. to study for interviews,” Jenna wrote. “Some call her a grandma. I call her a rock star.”
Jenna even noted Savannah’s “unwavering faith in action.”
“She lives guided by her faith for her family — for Vale and Charley, for Mike and for her friends that she makes feel like family,” she wrote.
Faith is something that played a big part in how Savannah comforted Jenna after the death of Jenna’s grandfather former President George H.W. Bush in 2018.
Jenna said May 19 on TODAY that Savannah called her at the time and asked if they should read the prayers at church Sunday.
“That day, reading these prayers that we wrote — including a prayer that he said, I was in hysterics,” Jenna explained. “And she held my back.”
April 2019: The pair showed off their dance moves on the TODAY plaza
Savannah and Jenna have displayed their skills as a dancing duo more than once on TODAY — including back in 2019, when they performed a choreographed cardio routine on the plaza as part of the Get Fit TODAY challenge.
“What I love about them is they came in truly wanting to challenge themselves, like really not believing if they could do it, but they had belief in themselves and positivity and such a good attitude,” said celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson, who helped them practice their killer moves.
May 2019: The friends shared secrets about each other in a game of know-and-tell
Like any close friends, Savannah and Jenna know a lot about each other — and they shared a few of their secrets during a game of know-and-tell on TODAY in 2019.
Savannah revealed that Jenna is “very, very neat” — a “neatnik.”
Jenna then shared a funny story about the time Savannah and her husband, Mike Feldman — who used to be Jenna’s neighbors — needed to use Jenna’s shower because theirs wasn’t working.
Everything went fine, but what Savannah and Mike didn’t realize was that a security camera in Jenna’s kitchen picked up their conversation about Jenna’s ultra-cleanliness.
“I hear Savannah tell Mike, ‘Make sure you don’t leave anything anywhere. Jenna has a real case of the cleanliness bug. Pick up your towels — Jenna is reeeeally clean!’” Jenna recalled on TODAY.
Jenna also revealed another unexpected secret about Savannah.
“You’re such a generous friend that you give me all of your leftover bras,” she said.
April 2020: Jenna revealed Savannah is son Hal’s godmother
Jenna and her husband welcomed their third child, Henry Harold “Hal” Hager, in August 2019. The following year, she revealed that Savannah plays a special role in Hal’s life.
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“I’ve never said this before, but Savannah is Hal’s godmother,” Jenna told Jason Kennedy in an April 2020 interview.
“We’ve literally raised our children together,” she said May 19 on TODAY.
“It’s the greatest compliment that a person could receive,” Savannah said about being asked to be Hal’s godmother.
Savannah also pointed to her and Jenna’s shared faith.
“It made perfect sense that the person that I speak to faith most about would be in his life to help shape him in that way,” Jenna said of her decision to choose Savannah as Hal’s godmother.
Jenna is also godmother to Savannah’s daughter, Vale, who was born in August 2014.
“I know she knows what it means to me. I also wanted to just say to Jenna, ‘You are one of my closest friends, and I am handing you my heart because my little girl is my heart,’” Savannah said.
Their kids’ lives are intertwined in more ways than one: Vale and Jenna’s younger daughter, Poppy, also happen to share a birthdate.
Vale was born Aug. 13, 2014, while Poppy entered the world on the same day one year later.
“They have like a sister relationship, almost, and our kids went to the same school so we would fill in for one another,” Jenna said, adding if she got stuck on a shoot, she would ask Savannah to pick up her children and vice versa.
“We came to really rely on each other,” Savannah said. “I think we both love that this friendship is now multigenerational, and it’s well beyond us.”
December 2021: Jenna called Savannah a ‘devoted friend’ on her milestone birthday
Jenna celebrated her friendship with Savannah as the TODAY co-anchor marked her 50th birthday Dec. 27, 2021.
“My sister-wife, devoted friend, litigator of all things literally, dog-sweater-wearing, enthusiastic partier until 9pm turns 5-0 today,” Jenna wrote on Instagram. “@savannahguthrie deserves to be celebrated for her dedication to her family and friends, her loyal heart, and her relentless faith.
“Sometimes life surprises you with a dear friend who loves you for all of you — what a wonder it is to be in your glow SG!” she added.
January 2022: Jenna gave Savannah a once-in-a-lifetime musical surprise
Days after Savannah’s 50th birthday, Jenna gave her friend one epic birthday surprise.
Jenna led a blindfolded Savannah into Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Once they sat down, the surprise was revealed: Andrea Bocelli was giving Savannah a private concert.
The Italian tenor performed Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” alongside his daughter, Virginia.
“The fact that Andrea Bocelli adapted this very famous song that I know Savannah loves, to grapple with the power of faith, is something that I think is going to move Savannah in so, so many ways,” Jenna said in a voice-over of the video showing the special moment. “I think there’ll be tears. I think Savannah will cry.”
She wasn’t wrong about that — Savannah was visibly moved throughout the entire performance.
“I want Savannah to know that in 50 years, she has done so much,” Jenna said. “She has brought so many people happiness.”
While thanking Bocelli afterward, Savannah called the experience “the honor of my life.”
February 2024: Jenna and Savannah enjoyed a joint family trip to Florida
It was a mommy-daughter double date for Jenna and Savannah when they each brought one of their daughters on a girls trip to Palm Beach, Florida.
Savannah brought Vale while Jenna brought her eldest daughter, Mila, on a fun weekend visit to the Sunshine State.
“We planned this, I think, before 2024,” Jenna told Hoda Kotb on TODAY on Feb. 5. “We planned it because Vale was baptized. And Mila said, ‘Girls, I feel like we need a girls trip.’”
Jenna said it was important for her and Savannah to spend time together with their families, especially since they are no longer next-door neighbors.
“You really got to make an effort,” Jenna said.
By all accounts, all four of them had a blast on the trip, which included surfing and time at the pool and beach.
“The weekend looks better through rose colored glasses,” Jenna captioned a series photos of her, Savannah and their daughters soaking up the sun.
It turns out Vale and Mila have also formed a sweet bond of their own.
In 2021, Savannah shared a funny story about the girls reflecting on their friendship.
“I was picking them up from the bus and I overheard (Mila) say to Vale, ‘Do you know we’re best friends, Vale?’” Savannah recalled on TODAY. “And Vale said, ‘No, why?’ And she goes, ‘Because God couldn’t handle it if we were sisters.’”
October 2024: Jenna and Savannah embraced their inner Swifties
On Oct. 18, 2024, Savannah and Jenna joined several other members of the TODAY team — and their kids, of course — on a trip to Miami to see Taylor Swift in concert.
The pair shared a video of themselves singing along to “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).”
“Just livin’ our dream / we were there, we were there,” Savannah wrote in the caption.
Hoda and Lindsay Czarniak, Craig Melvin’s wife, also joined them at the “Eras Tour” performance — along with Savannah’s kids, Craig’s daughter, Sybil, and Hoda’s daughters, Hope and Haley.
May 2025: The BFFs auditioned for ‘America’s Got Talent’
Jenna and Savannah once again showed off their dancing skills when they auditioned — sort of — for “America’s Got Talent” as a new dynamic duo called The Hot Flashes.
Sporting matching hot pink tracksuits, they premiered their new act in front of Craig and “AGT” judges Howie Mandel and Mel B, as well as “America’s Got Talent” host Terry Crews.
“My Oura Ring just exploded. … Let’s go walk the mall!” Savannah said after they finished their number.
But would dancing be part of their longterm future together?
On May 19, Savannah and Jenna said they’re already mapping out what retirement would look like for them.
“We’re going to be sitting on a porch,” Jenna said.
“Sitting out there probably clinking a glass,” Savannah added.
“She’ll have some dog. I’m going to have a hundred cats,” Jenna said.
After some mahjong, they would end the day watching the sunset saying, “Wasn’t it lovely?” according to Savannah. “Weren’t we lucky?”
“We will be friends forever,” Jenna added. “There’s no doubt about that.”
