Jenna Bush Hager swoons over female celebrity crush after threatening to leave husband Henry

Jenna Bush Hager threatened to leave husband Henry for a very unexpected celebrity as she and Today co-host Sheinelle Jones passionately debated the idea of ‘hall passes’ in a marriage. 

The topic came about on the Tuesday episode of their hit morning show, Today with Jenna & Sheinelle.

As Jones described, a ‘hall pass’ is a mutual agreement between partners that allows them to have a sexual experience with someone else and not have it considered as cheating.

Usually, these hall passes are celebrities or similar. 

‘The concept of knowing that your spouse, or boyfriend or girlfriend, has somebody that they have on a pedestal, that’s human,’ Jones said during the show.

And, indeed, it looked like Bush Hager was very ‘human’ when she named her two hall passes – actor Colin Firth and singer Brandi Carlile.

‘He’s very handsome,’ Bush Hager said of Firth, joking that she’s had a crush on him for quite some time now.

‘It’s a vibe, he was also in Bridget Jones, he’s British,’ Bush Hager continued.

Next on her list was female singer Carlile, who she admitted to having a crush on during an episode last year.

‘She knows that I have said this, and so does her wife,’ Bush Hager said.

‘And also, I’ve never kissed a woman,’ she added.

Her comments come after she joked that Carlile was the ‘woman that [she] would leave [her] husband for.’

She spoke about Carlile during a May 7 episode of her talk show, as they were discussing Elton John’s song, ‘Who Believes in Angel,’ which featured Carlile.

‘Yeah. Do you know that Brandi Carlile is the woman I would leave my husband for, Bush Hager said at the time.

‘I’m not sure I ever said it exactly straight out, but she is,’ she added. 

As for Jones during the Today Show, she revealed that she has run into a bit of a problem in the past when it comes to her own ‘hall pass.’

‘The problem with this job is that, when you’re on a show like this,  and you say, “I used to have a crush on so and so,” they say, so “would you like to co-host with so and so?”‘ Jones explained.

She revealed that this once happened to her with Tyson Beckford, someone she used to have pictures of in her locker at school, as he came on as a co-host once. 

But now, she’s added one more person to her list – English soccer player, Jude Bellingham. 

‘My one for now, I’m more of like the auntie in this situation, cougar vibes, but I’m just saying, I think I like a physique and I think I like this one,’ Jones said of Bellingham. 

‘He’s a vibe because in addition to his physique and all the things, he seems like such a really nice guy,’ she added. 

Jones’s husband, Uche Ojeh, tragically passed away in May 2025 from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

The two TV host’s comments come just days after they made headlines while discussing another hot topic on their show – Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

Meghan and Harry shocked the world with an announcement on August 19 that they would be relocating back to Britain along with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Bush Hager and Jones discussed Harry and Meghan’s dramatic move to the US six years ago, claiming it felt like the former royal couple ‘lit a match’ and blew everything up when they fled the UK. 

The two co-hosts said that Meghan and Harry’s move back to Britain should be a ‘lesson’ to others.

‘It’s a lesson for everybody. When you leave something and say you’re never going back… [don’t] light a match,’ Bush Hager said.

‘They sort of threw whatever at the institutions that exist in the UK. It’s hard to say things like that and then be like, well…’ the host trailed off, as she threw her hands in the air.

‘They were like, “We’re out, hello US,”‘ Jones interjected.

‘I also think, good for them for living their life,’ Bush Hager added.

Sheinelle suggested that they may have moved back to the UK to spend more time with family.

‘I feel like our parents aren’t getting any younger, our grandparents, and so you want your kids to know their grandparents and their cousins and their family members,’ Jones theorized.

‘I totally understand the move, but I think the reason people are surprised was because there was a little bit of…’ Bush Hager trailed off again.

Meghan and Prince Harry have already arrived back in Britain, landing on August 26.

The Sussexes, who are also believed to be bringing their dogs Mia and Pula across the Atlantic, are now setting up their home in the UK. They plan to live as an ‘international’ family, keeping their homes in California and Portugal.