Willie Geist shares rare glimpse into family life with kids — and how they really feel about his fame


The TODAY anchor shares two kids with his high school sweetheart Christina


Willie Geist and Christina Geist attend the 2022 A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Cure Parkinson's at Cipriani South Street on October 29, 2022 in New York City© Getty
Beatriz ColonNew York Writer - New York
April 20, 2025
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Willie Geist's job may have him mingling with celebrities almost every day of the week, but his kids still aren't so impressed.

The NBC mainstay has been married to his high school sweetheart Christina Geist since 2003, and they share two children, daughter Lucie Joy, 17, and son George William, 15. Scroll to the end for a video on their love story.

This month, the TODAY anchor celebrated his 20th anniversary of being part of the NBC family, however to his kids, he is still just their "annoying dad."

© Getty Images
The family recently visited Nashville, Tennessee

Willie, recently speaking with Us Weekly, was asked whether his kids were familiar with the "TV boyfriend" title his colleague Jenna Bush Hager recently crowned him with.

"Fairly certain my kids are not aware of it," he confessed, explaining: "Jenna crowned me that on the air, and it was based on someone else … Somebody was the internet's boyfriend. Something like that. So, I mean, there are other nominees."

"I don't quite know what it means," he then confessed, however added: "But whenever Jenna Bush Hager puts a crown on you, you just take it, smile and wave," and noted it is "certainly an honor" to hold the title.

© Instagram
The Geists on vacation in Aspen in 2023

Further giving insight into what his kids really think of his TV fame, the doting dad maintained that he is still "annoying dad," especially when he is not in the know about pop culture or reality television.

"I get it, because I have a teenage daughter, but I always come in late and I'm the annoying dad," he said of trying to watch TV with his daughter. "You can't drop in on the finale and start asking all the questions."

© Instagram
Christina and Willie are high school sweethearts

Willie also opened up about how high school graduation is "coming quicker every day," for his kids, especially his daughter.

© Instagram
Willie and his family live in Westchester

"It's such a cliché that every parent who has ever had a child will tell you, but once you're in it you really feel it," he confessed.

"One minute you're walking out of the hospital with a tiny person in a car seat wondering how you're going to do it … and the next minute they're getting ready to get measures for a cap and gown for high school graduation and you just cannot believe it," Willie further reflected.

Still, he emphasized: "While I'm having my dad feelings, because she is our first to go off as well, I'm just so excited for her to go do her thing and go become who she's going to be. Because I know it's going to be somebody really, really special."

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