Who Is Willie Geist’s Wife? All About Christina Geist & ‘Today’ Host’s Family
Willie Geist has had a lengthy career on TV, as well as a longtime romance off the air.
Willie and his wife, Christina Geist, knew each other for several years before they tied the knot in 2003. “We were buddies first,” he told Hoda Kotb on an April 2022 episode of Today With Hoda & Jenna. “And I think even today, all these years later, that’s the foundation of our relationship is that we were always friends.”
When asked how he broke out of the friend zone with Christina, Willie said, “I have a very romantic secret. I made out with her on the roof of my friend’s house with some warm Bud Light in the red-hot fall of 1991.”
Kotb questioned, “Did you just go in for a kiss, and you were like, ‘I’m going for it.’” He replied, “I think we were both sensing it.” He went on to gush, “I was so excited because I always liked her, I think, in my heart. We were truly good friends and we had the same group of friends. But I always liked her. I didn’t know how she felt until that roof.” Scroll down to learn more about Willie and Christina’s relationship, their family, and more.
How did Willie and Christina Geist meet?
The couple first met when they were in the sixth grade. “We both went to George Washington Middle School in Ridgewood, New Jersey. On the first day, Christina had a bunch of friends from elementary school, whereas I was the new kid from the other side of town, standing alone and scanning the room,” Willie recalled in an August 2019 interview with Glamour. “And I know it sounds like revisionist history, but this is true. I really remember thinking in my little 11-year-old brain, ‘Oh, she seems cute and cool.’ And it turns out I was right—because that was 33 years ago, and we’re married with kids.”
Christina, for her part, told the outlet, “I remember it, too. It’s crazy, but I feel like Willie always stood out. He’s a presence in any room he walks in, both because he tends to be taller than 95% of the people, but also because he’s just the type of person that the attention naturally shifts toward him.”
Willie noted that they “dated briefly” during their freshman year of high school but later broke up. They got back together during their junior year and went on to attend Vanderbilt University together.
“When we got to college, we felt like we were supposed to break up because that’s what you’re supposed to do, but it didn’t really stick.” Christina shared. “Then when we ended things after college, it was the right thing to do. … I’m grateful that neither one of us was too proud at age 25 when we were figuring out how to get back together and make it work out. You have to really look yourself in the mirror at certain moments in your life and say, ‘What’s most important here?’ For me, that was being together.”
When did Willie and Christina get married?
A few years after their post-college reunion, the couple said “I do” in 2003. “[Twenty-two] years ago today, my middle school crush became my wife,” Willie captioned a throwback Instagram photo from their wedding day in celebration of their anniversary in May 2025. “I love you, @ChristinaSharkeyGeist… since ‘86.”
In an Instagram post of her own, Christina wrote, “05.24.03. To be so certain about someone, yet so uncertain about the future ahead, is the ultimate leap of faith. I’m so glad we jumped. Happy 22 @williegeist.”
Do Willie and Christina Geist have any kids?
Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images
Willie and Christina became parents with the birth of their daughter, Lucie, in June 2007. They later welcomed their son, George, in July 2009.
“I think there’s something old school about being a dad,” Willie said while discussing fatherhood with his fellow Today dads in June 2024. “You want to, in their eyes, be the hero. And showing that kind of vulnerability … maybe you feel like that puts a little bit of a dent in that. But I think it’s so important to do it and reveal that life is not all perfect. Things come up along the way. You are vulnerable.”
What does Christina Geist do for a living?
According to her website, Christina is the cofounder and strategy director of the branding and design firm True Geist as well as the founder of Boombox Gifts. She is also a New York Times bestselling author of several children’s books, including Buddy’s New Buddy, Sorry Grown-Ups, You Can’t Go To School!, and Buddy’s Bedtime Battery.
In April, she appeared on Today With Jenna & Sheinelle to promote her latest book, Before You Fly Away: Life Lessons from Home, which she wrote as a gift to Lucie before she went off to college. She self-published the book.
“It just leaves you in a little bit more control at the beginning, which, for me, worked out well,” she stated about releasing the book with no publishing deal. “And, you know, lesson 42 in the book is, ‘Figure it out. You’re 100 percent capable,’ and this is one of those moments.”
Where do Willie and Christina Geist live?
Like many of Willie’s NBC and MS Now colleagues, the couple and their family reside in the New York area. They live in South Salem, New York, home that was previously owned by Stanley Tucci.
Sunday Today With Willie Geist, Sundays, 8am, NBC
Morning Joe, Weekdays, 6 a.m./5c, MS NOW
