Heavy/Getty Jonathan Scott, Zooey Deschanel
When HGTV’s Jonathan Scott proposed to actress Zooey Deschanel at a castle in Scotland, it was the romantic culmination of months of planning. But the engagement ring he gave the actress has been the source of some serious stress.
Not only did the ring not fit Deschanel, but the couple’s engagement bliss quickly turned to panic when he forgot it at their hotel, he revealed on “Today with Hoda & Jenna” on November 17, 2023.
Here’s what you need to know:
Jonathan Scott Had to Rely on Taxi Driver to Retrieve Thousands of Dollars in Valuables
After four years of dating, Scott proposed on August 13, according to People, during a family trip through Europe with a little help from Deschanel’s two children, eight-year-old Elsie and six-year-old Charlie, whom she shares with ex-husband Jacob Pechenik.
Deschanel told People that her now-fiancé nailed the surprise proposal and got her the ring of her dreams — featuring clear, pink and purple stones in a flower pattern — but one detail he missed was getting it in her correct size.
“It was big for me. I didn’t wear it,” Deschanel told People, revealing that her ring size is a 4.75.
“I measured so badly,” Scott admitted to the magazine. “So I said to the jeweler, I was like, ‘You know Zooey. What size?’ They’re like, ‘She is definitely a 6. She’s a 6.'”
So, Scott told “Today,” they put the ring in their safe at the hotel so it wouldn’t fall off and get lost, along with their passports, money and credit cards.
“We took the kids to London, Scotland and then Paris,” he said. “So all this excitement had happened in Scotland, and we celebrated, and the next day we were traveling to Paris. Great, I’m organized, I’ve got it all together, we get to the airport … when we were sitting there and I was like, ‘Oh, my God. I forgot everything in the safe at the hotel.'”
The hotel was 25 minutes away from the airport, he recalled, and their flight was boarding in just 40 minutes.
“I’m freaking out, like, ‘What do I do?'” Scott said. “And so (I) called the hotel manager, (they) went (and) got her ring, got the passports, got all the money and everything, credit cards, that were in the safe.”
The hotel manager told Scott that all of their valuables would be delivered to the airport in 25 minutes by a taxi driver.
“I’m like, ‘What?!'” Scott told hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Hager Bush, worried that a cab driver would be responsible for so many valuables. The ring alone is worth around $42,000 according to the Van Cleef & Arpels website.
Scott said the hotel manager assured him that “no one is more trustworthy than their cab drivers in Scotland.”
And, sure enough, a cab driver pulled up to the airport with all of their valuables — including the ring — just before they were due to board the plane.
Jonathan Scott Says He & Zooey Deschanel Wouldn’t Have Dated 20 Years Ago
During the “Today Show” interview, Kotb brought up a conversation she had with Scott backstage about his relationship with Deschanel.
She said, “You know what I love about you? You said before the segment…if you two had met 20 years ago, you’re not sure you two would be together.”
Scott replied, “Well no, I mean, sometimes I think you go through your whole life — that’s why I like, when (you were) talking about the ‘Golden Bachelor’ earlier. You don’t know when you’re young what you want.”
“And we got to a point where we know what we want and it’s each other,” he continued. “And it’s been the most incredible experience to actually feel that love bounce right back at you.”