Who Is Margaret Brennan's Husband? All About Yado Yakub

Margaret Brennan and her husband, Yado Yakub, got married in 2015 and have since welcomed two children

Margaret Brennan knew her husband for 15 years before the two got married in 2015.

The Face the Nation host first met her husband, Maj. Ali Iyad Yakub, who goes by the nickname Yado, when they were both students at the University of Virginia in 1998. However, it wasn't until they reconnected in 2013 that they began dating and, two years later, got married.

“It was a matter of timing,” Brennan told the Washington Post after their April 2015 wedding. “Both of us agree that we never would have dated each other back in college.”

The couple expanded their family in September 2018 with the birth of their first son, Eamon, and again in April 2021 with the birth of their second son, Malek.

So who is Margaret Brennan's husband? Here's everything to know about Yado Yakub and his relationship with the CBS News host.

He served in the army and is a lawyer

Yakub attended the University of Virgina for his undergraduate degree, followed by the University of Miami where he earned his law degree. He served as an attorney and a legal associate for a few years after graduating before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in 2007, per his LinkedIn.

Yakub served as a Marine until 2016, before pivoting to working in global intelligence. In 2019, he returned to the Marines, where he continues to work as a legal advisor in addition to working as a global advisor for Y2 Global Advisory.

They first met in college when Brennan was a freshman, and Yakub was a senior

Brennan and Yakub first met in 1998 at the University of Virginia when they were both students. Brennan was a freshman, while Yakub was a senior, so their paths didn't cross much — and neither had a particularly positive opinion of the other.

“I thought she was too conservative, too preppy, too ‘New England,’ ” Yado told the Washington Post. “She thought I was a bit wild and partied a bit much.”

Brennan and Yakub kept reconnecting years after they first met

After Yakub had already graduated, Brennan studied abroad in the summer between her junior and senior year at Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan, and Yakub's sister, Samia Yakub, was her roommate. The two became close, Brennan told the Washington Post, and often traveled together and even visited Yakub's grandmother in Damascus, Syria.

However, Yakub didn't come up as often as one might think.

“The program was very intense, so there was no time to think about anything else,” Brennan told The New York Times in April 2015. “Yado’s name came up occasionally, but I wasn’t thinking about him in any special way at that time.”

Three years later, Yakub entered Brennan's life again when her boyfriend at the time — a mutual friend — reached out to Yakub as the couple were visiting Miami, where Yakub was in law school, but "it was a real casual thing," Brennan told The New York Times.

Nearly a decade later, the TV host was living in Washington D.C., where Samia was also living, and the two reconnected.

“Yado’s name came up again,” Brennan told the outlet. “I got a kick out of hearing that he was in the military and a lawyer as well. He was someone I had remembered in T-shirts and flip-flops at Virginia.”

They started dating in 2013 after running into each other

At her dinner with Samia, Brennan found out that Yakub had also recently moved to D.C., but it wasn't until a chance run-in in February 2013 that the two crossed paths again. She was walking her dog when she bumped into Yakub, who was waiting for a bus. He invited her to a party, and a month later, the two began talking.

They exchanged emails, and by July 2013, they were a couple.

“It’s a pretty crazy series of events that got us together,” Yakub told The New York Times. “I always thought she was too uptight, but I had never really taken the time to get to know her. Once we began talking, I realized that she was a very warm, very down-to-earth person."

They got married two years after they started dating

After dating for five months, the two took a trip to Thailand together. As soon as he got home, Yakub knew he was ready to propose, he told the Washington Post. On March 14, 2014, Yakub proposed during a day trip to Charlottesville, Va., where they attended college, and a year later, the two got married on April 11, 2015.

The event, which took place at the Decatur House in Washington, D.C., blended Brennan's Irish-American and Yakub's Syrian-American cultures. Brennan walked down the aisle to Irish bagpipes, and the whole crew enjoyed a performance by a Middle Eastern quartet during the cocktail hour.

“I think the wedding is going to be a great mix of our two worlds," Yakub told the Washington Post ahead of the celebration. "I’m just going to take it all in, look at all the faces in the crowd and not let a moment pass by too quickly.”

Brennan and Yakub share two children together

Brennan and Yakub first grew their family in 2018 with the birth of their son, Eamon Brennan Yakub, on Sept. 11. in Washington D.C., they confirmed to PEOPLE.

“Yado and I are overwhelmed and totally in love with our little man Eamon,” Brennan said.

The baby boy's name honors both of their cultures, Brennan said, explaining that "Eamon (pronounced Ay-mon) means ‘guardian’ in Irish and, while spelled differently, also means ‘righteous’ in Arabic."

The family grew once again with the birth of their second son, Malek Murphy Yakub, on April 28, 2021, at the same hospital where Eamon was born.

Like his brother, Malek's name was also a combination of Irish and Syrian culture, Brennan told PEOPLE. Malek means "king" in Arabic and Murphy is a family name on Brennan's side.

"Yado, Eamon, and I are excited to bring Malek into the world as we emerge from the pandemic and look forward to getting close with friends and loved ones again," Brennan said.

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