Jake Tapper met Jennifer Marie Brown at a hotel bar in 2004

Jennifer Marie Brown and Jake Tapper in 2018. Photo: 

Paul Morigi/Getty

CNN anchor Jake Tapper has been married to Jennifer Marie Brown since 2006. Tapper first met his wife in 2004 during the Iowa caucuses, marking the beginning of their relationship.

While Tapper is well-known for his role as CNN’s chief Washington correspondent and as the anchor of The Lead with Jake Tapper and CNN’s State of the Union, Brown has managed to maintain a lower profile despite her significant contributions to advocacy and public health.

Living in Washington, D.C., with their two children, Alice and Jack, the couple exercises a balance of high-profile media presence and dedicated community service. In addition to attending red carpet events hand-in-hand, they also do work to spread awareness on sepsis, hoping to save others from the experience the family faced when Alice fell ill with the condition in 2021.

So who is Jake Tapper’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Jennifer Marie Brown and her relationship with the journalist.

She grew up in Missouri

Jennifer Marie Brown and Jake Tapper at the 2022 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.Paul Morigi/GettyBrown grew up in Platte City, Mo., where her parents, Thomas and Linda Brown, played a significant role in her upbringing. Her father owned a general merchandise store, US 1 Dollar, in Lenexa, Kans., while her mother worked as a customer service supervisor for Southwest Airlines at Kansas City International Airport, per The New York Times. Brown went on to attend and graduate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, staying close to her roots.

While the family resides in Washington D.C., they still make visits to Brown’s home state, to which Tapper jokingly posted a picture on Facebook in April 2023 of him shoveling snow with the caption, “Marry a Midwestern girl and this is how you end up spring breaking in Minnesota!”

They met at a hotel bar

Jake Tapper and Jennifer Marie Brown in 2017.Shannon Finney/WireImageIn a 2016 interview with Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, Tapper recalled crossing paths with Brown during the 2004 Iowa caucuses. Tapper, who was working for ABC News at the time, said he was walking into the Hotel Fort Des Moines and “there was Jennifer at the hotel bar,” the journalist continued, “I saw her and I walked up to her and we went out the next day in D.C. and that was it.”

Tapper added, “It was worth a second date for her is all I can say.”

Tapper and Brown married in 2006

Jake Tapper and Jennifer Marie Brown in 2015.Mark Sagliocco/GettyAfter about two years of dating, Brown and Tapper wed on Sept. 3, 2006, near her hometown in Kansas City. The wedding took place at the Clubhouse on Baltimore, formerly known as the Kansas City Club, with Tapper’s sister-in-law, Rabbi Laurie Hahn Tapper, officiating the ceremony.

Brown has a long history of being involved in advocacy work

Jennifer Marie Brown and Jake Tapper in 2023.Paul Morigi/GettyAt the time of their meeting, Brown worked as a regional field manager for Planned Parenthood in Washington, D.C. Later, she transitioned to part-time work with Upstream, an organization dedicated to ensuring women have access to birth control.

In a 2015 interview with Washingtonian, Brown said she volunteers with AmeriCorps, helping elementary school children learn to read.

“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,” Brown told the outlet.

She also added that, drawing from her early career as a social worker, she now works as an advocacy consultant.

Brown and Tapper have two children — and one became a published author at 11 years old

Jake Tapper and Jennifer Marie Brown in 2017.Dimitrios Kambouris/GettyBrown and Tapper have two kids, Alice and Jack. Most notably, Alice became a published author in 2019 at the age of 11 with her picture book Raise Your Hand, which aims to encourage girls to be more confident in school. Prior to her book, Alice wrote an op-ed for The New York Times discussing the importance of speaking up in the classroom as a young girl.

“I told my mom that I thought girls weren’t raising their hands because they were afraid that the answer was going to be wrong and that they would be embarrassed,” she wrote. “I also think they were being quiet because the boys already had the teacher’s attention, and they worried they might not be able to get it.”

When Alice fell ill of sepsis in 2021, Brown and Tapper leaned on one another amid the tough time, also utilizing the media to spread awareness.

In a TikTok posted by Tapper in 2023, Alice and Brown sat side by side as they spoke of the episode at a CDC press conference on sepsis. Now, “healthier and stronger than ever,” Alice is “on a mission” to tell her story and urge hospitals to listen to patients, “even if they are young.”

“My wife Jennifer and daughter Alice sharing our experience so none of you have to go through it,” Tapper’s caption read.

Brown likes to prioritize quality family time

Jake Tapper and Jennifer Marie Brown in 2018.Marion Curtis/Starpix/ShutterstockIn her conversation with Washingtonian, Brown noted that she wants to give her children an enriching childhood, hoping to ensure that their heads are “filled with happy memories and a calm and purposeful existence.”

She also mentioned that she crowdsources parenting advice from Supernanny, her mother and her mom friends, noting that they’re the “real experts.”

Still, there’s one thing Brown maintains, and that’s quality time with the family away from screens.

“Despite what I heard from one particular public-radio report about the benefits for children of the game Minecraft, it should be avoided,” Brown told the outlet. “Board games are always better than an iPad; sitting down to dinner together is a must, no matter what grownup stuff is going on.”