Jenna Bush Hager left her Today cohost Hoda Kotb visibly stunned during Wednesday's show when she revealed the bizarre pet name her husband, Henry Hager, used to call when they first started dating.
At the beginning of the episode, Hoda, 59, and Jenna, 42, were discussing Benny Blanco's adorable nickname for his girlfriend, Selena Gomez, after he referred to her as 'my wittle' in a recent Instagram Story post.
Mid-conversation, Jenna asked mother-of-two Hoda: 'Do you like a nickname?' to which she replied: 'Kind of, like usually... when I'm with... "honey, sweetie, blah blah"... when I was a kid they all called me Hodie, that was my nickname. Do you like a nickname?'
Mother-of-three Jenna responded: 'Yeah, I love a nickname!' as Hoda added: 'What does Henry call you?' to which she revealed: 'Well, he called me shiny...' leaving Hoda visibly baffled.
'Yeah, shiny cat... when we first got together,' Jenna confirmed before adding: 'And now he's just like, "honey, baby...", and the kids are like, "ew!" before revealing that she refers to her husband of 16 years as 'Hank.'
Today host Hoda Kotb was visibly stunned on Wednesday when Jenna Bush Hager revealed the pet name her husband used to call her
Jenna confirmed that when she first got together with Henry Hager after meeting him in 2004, he would call her 'shiny cat'
'He likes it, his mother did not like it. You know when you're naming a child and you're like, "don't call him anything!" His mother was hoping for non-Hank, but then everybody calls him Hank,' Jenna divulged.
She then revealed that her oldest child, Mila, sometimes calls her 'Kylie Jenner' and requested that she refer to her as 'Stormi' who is Jenner's six-year-old daughter.
'But then last night, Hal was jealous so he asked that I call Mila "Rainy" and call him "Stormi,"' Jenna laughed, before confirming there's another nickname her kids have for her but refused to say it on air.
Back in December 2023, Jenna revealed that her three children - Mila, 11; Poppy, eight; and four-year-old Hal - refused to call her 'mom' and referred to her as 'Jenna Bush' instead.
She confessed that all three of her little ones 'ganged up' against her when she humorously asked: 'You wanna try calling me Mom?' to which her eldest slyly replied: 'You call me Mila, I call you Jenna.'
Hoda's mouth dropped in disbelief and her eyes widened in response to her cohost confessing that she was not called mom in her house.
Without hesitation, Hoda told her: 'You're losing the fight. You've lost the fight.'
Jenna held both her hands up and submissively replied: 'No I've lost it. It's gone.'
Jenna revealed that she calls Henry 'Hank' while he now refers to her as 'honey' or 'baby'
Jenna previously revealed that her three children - Mila, Poppy, and Hal - refused to call her 'mom'
Just one month earlier, Jenna was left mortified when she accidentally referred to her husband as 'daddy' live on air.
The former teacher was talking about her four-year-old son, Hal, wanting to dress up as Trolls characters Guy Diamond and Tiny Diamond with her husband when she made the epic blunder.
'Hal wants to be baby Diamond and have daddy be...,' she said, before quickly adding: 'First of all, I just called him daddy on television...' as Hoda started giggling.
Hoda chimed in, as the crew could be heard laughing in the background, trying to make Jenna feel better about her embarrassing slip-of-the-tongue.
'If all the things you said in your own house you said out loud, people would think you're crazy,' she sympathized.
'Oh gosh,' Jenna said with her head in her hands before saying: 'I just called my husband daddy! I need to be put in some sort of... Is there like a corner where I can go sit for a few minutes just to think?'
Jenna met her husband in 2004 while he was working on her father's presidential campaign.
