Justin Sylvester surprised Jenna Bush Hager and hard launched his relationship with a new boyfriend during his time cohosting Today With Jenna & Friends.
“I was talking to a guy that I was kind of dating at the time. [We were] just starting out. It was fresh,” Justin, 38, said while chatting with Jenna, 43, during the Tuesday, February 18, episode. “And you know when you’re on the phone with your girlfriends, you’re like, ‘Oh I love you. Catch you later.’ And he said, ‘Bye.’ And I said, ‘I love you. Catch you later.’”
The E! News cohost added that he was texting when he let the phrase slip and that was why he doesn’t “talk on the phone and text at the same time anymore.”
He continued, “And he gasped, and I hung up the phone. And then he calls back and I was like, ‘I can’t do this. You cannot say anything.’ He was like, ‘I love you too and I was going to tell you that I love you as well.’ And it was a really big moment.”
However, the shock came when Jenna assumed that Justin and his partner were no longer together, but he quickly informed her that they were, in fact, still a couple.
“Justin! What is happening here?” the mom of three shouted.
Justin couldn’t help but laugh and added, “In Louisiana right now, my mother has just dropped her Folgers all over my sister and her child.”
When Jenna inquired as to why he hadn’t let her in on his secret before then, he admitted that he wasn’t sure if he was going to discuss his relationship on air.
“How does [your boyfriend] feel that you’ve just launched in a public place?” Jenna asked. “This is a public launch.”
The E!’s Daily Pop host joked that because his boyfriend was on the West Coast he still had three hours to tell him.
Before the two changed the topic, Jenna asked if Justin’s “mistaken ‘I love you’” was what really knocked their relationship up a notch.
“Yeah, it kind of got it fast tracked. And I kind of freaked out and maybe ignored him for two days. But yeah, it was great,” Justin explained. “It’s been an interesting ride for sure. It’s been the best six months. And I know you guys at home are thinking, ‘Six months?’ But in gay years, that’s like six years. So we are deep. I have two kids at this point.”
Justin has previously kept most of the information about his dating life private, and he didn’t reveal the name of his recent boyfriend during his time with Jenna. However, during an appearance on Today in August 2024, Justin opened up to former host Hoda Kotb and the two chatted about dating.
When Hoda, 60, asked exactly what Justin was looking for in a partner, he admitted that he didn’t know.
“I don’t know what I’m looking for,” Justin said, before adding, “It’s my problem! I know, I know. I see a therapist!”
He concluded, “I’ve been trying to pinpoint what I need and what I can actually handle, but I feel like my man is in New York.”
