‘Today’s Sheinelle Jones Says She’s Still ‘Not Better’ After Husband’s Death

While Sheinelle Jones starts each day smiling on Today, she’s still struggling with the loss of her husband, Uche Ojeh, behind the scenes.

“I don’t even think I understood fully what it would feel like to not have him,” she shared in an interview with People published on Wednesday, January 14. It’s the life after where you really feel the loss.”

She added, “My kids lost their dad at 13 and 16, but I try to tell them they got more in those years than some people get in a lifetime.” (Jones shares her son Kayin, 16, and twins Clara and Uche Jr., 13, with Ojeh.)

Jones took several months off from Today to help Ojeh during his private battle with brain cancer. Savannah Guthrie announced on the show in May 2025 that Ojeh had died at the age of 45. Jones returned to the NBC morning show that September and recently made her debut as Jenna Bush Hager‘s new fourth hour of Today cohost on Monday, January 12.

“People see me on TV and they think ‘Oh, she’s better.’ It’s like, ‘Oh, no no. I’m not better.’ Every day, it’s like swimming through mud,” she explained. “I’ve had to really do the work. Empathy is my superpower now, and I recognize that I hold two things: I hold my grief, and I also hold this joy. I said it months ago, and I’ll say it now: I am fighting for my joy.”

 

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Jones called her new job on Today With Jenna & Sheinelle her first “win” since Ojeh’s passing. “Jenna and I look at each other and we’re safe. If I fall, she’s going to pick me up and vice versa,” Jones gushed. “If I told you the depth of my groans and tears just months ago to one of the best days of my life here today, you couldn’t even write it.”

Jones went on to share that she never expected Ojeh to lose his battle with brain cancer. “When you’re a woman of faith, you realize that you’re praying for an outcome and then if the outcome doesn’t come, then what? And that’s when I’ve really had to dig deep and realize that maybe I just don’t fully understand,” she said. “I know God loves me and I know God loves [Uche] and I know God loves my children and our families, so like, why is this happening? I still don’t know if I have the answer, but I have peace that passes all understanding. That’s a Bible verse. It doesn’t mean that it’s easier. It doesn’t mean that my grief is not excruciating.”

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Jones still feels Ojeh is still by her side as she begins her latest career chapter on Jenna & Sheinelle. “I know that he knows. He was rooting for me all along,” she told the outlet. “I owe it to him to keep going.”

When it comes to her kids, Jones wants them to continue Ojeh’s legacy “not with pain, but with power.” She added, “It hurts that this [loss] is happening to me, but it is excruciating that it’s happening to my kids. As a mom you just want to protect them from everything. This was the first thing I couldn’t fix.”

Jones continued, “When I hear my kids laugh, I know they’re going to be okay. There’s joy there. And for me, going back to work, with all of those people surrounding me, I feel safe and loved, and I don’t have to pretend. My joy is real.”

Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, Weekdays, 10 a.m./9c, NBC