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You've probably seen Jake Tapper flash across your TV screen at one point or another.
The journalist, 50, is the host of CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper and the weekly show State of the Union. He's the author of the 2018 political thriller The Hellfire Club, and he served as a moderator during the 2016 Republican presidential debates. Now, he's gearing up to do the same at the second round of Democratic primary debates on July 30 and 31 in Detroit.
But as for his wife, Jennifer Marie Brown, much of the little information out there is unconfirmed if not downright incorrect. For instance, many websites credit her as the author of The Hate List, a bestselling 2009 young adult novel written by Jennifer Brown (no relation). She rarely gives interviews. And even big profiles of her husband rarely mention her. A splashy 2017 GQ profile included her only twice, once when noting that he has a wife, period, and the second time, a five-sentence quote in which she called her husband “an honest and truthful man.”
Because of that, we're here to give you a little more information.
Jennifer Marie Brown was 29 years old and working as a regional field manager in Washington, D.C. for Planned Parenthood Federation of America when she wed her fiancé Jake Tapper back in 2006. Tapper, then 37, was a senior political correspondent in the Washington Bureau of ABC News at the time.
Born in Minnesota and then raised in St. Joseph, Missouri, Brown is the daughter of Thomas. H Brown, the former owner of a US 1 Dollar, an independent general merchandise store in Lenexa, Kansas, and Linda M. Brown, formerly a customer service supervisor for Southwest Airlines. Her parents are now retired. Brown graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, according to the New York Times.
Tapper was in Des Moines in 2004 covering the Iowa caucuses for Good Morning America when he first met Brown. “It was the day of the caucuses and all the big hitters flew in, so I knew I wasn’t going to go on. So my producer and I went out. When [John] Kerry won, we said, 'Let’s go to the Kerry campaign headquarters, because that’s where the party will be.' And I walked into the Hotel Fort Des Moines and there was Jennifer,” he recalled during an interview with Dartmouth Alumni magazine.
The hotel bar was the fateful first meeting place of a courtship that would continue on to today. “I saw her and I walked up to her and we went out the next day in D.C. and that was it,” he said.
Together, the pair have a daughter, 11-year-old Alice Paul Tapper, already a published author in her pre-teens (check out her book here), and a son, 9-year old Jack. “Time is short and sweet, and I want their heads to be filled with happy memories and a calm and purposeful existence,” Tapper, who wants to teach kids at a Montessori school, told Washingtonian in 2015. “I hope to guide my children, but also let them learn things on their own.”
In that same 2016 interview with Dartmouth Alumni, Tapper offered an update on Brown's career, explaining she worked part-time for a group called Upstream, which according to their website aims to reduce unplanned pregnancy to improve the lives of parents and children. “I also volunteer with AmeriCorps’ reading partners program, helping first- and second-graders to read,” Brown said during that 2015 interview with Washingtonian. “That time every week allows me to understand that people need each other, and the most important thing we can do every day is to be kind.”
Other key takeaways from that interview: Her favorite movies are This Is 40 and Sense and Sensibility, her signature scent is Jo Malone, and her celebrity crush is Elizabeth Banks. In other words, she has good taste.
Despite her low profile, Brown does pop up occasionally on Tapper’s Instagram, like during date night in March and again in June. “With wife, the best,” he captioned the latest image.
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