‘Today’: Sheinelle Jones & Sara Bareilles Get Emotional About Grief Journeys

Sheinelle Jones got the chance to thank one of the people who helped her through the loss of her husband, Uche Ojeh.

Back in May 2025, news broke that Ojeh died at the age of 45 following a private battle with brain cancer. Jones shared her three children — Kayin, Clara, and Uche — with Ojeh, whom she wed in 2007. She took several months off from the NBC morning show before returning to Today that September. She was announced as Jenna Bush Hager‘s new fourth hour co-host in December 2025 and began her role in January.

During the Tuesday, September 8, episode of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, Jones opened up about her recent conversation with singer and actress Sara Bareilles about grief.

“When I was going through, really, the most difficult time of my life, losing Uche, there were certain artists whose music spoke to my soul. And I always promised myself if I had a chance to talk to them afterwards, I would share that with them,” she explained to viewers. “And now, it’s Sara Bareilles. She was one of them.”

In a prerecorded segment, Jones sat down with Bareilles to talk about her new album, “Good Grief,” which was inspired by the deaths of two close friends, Chad Joseph and Gavin Creel. “I feel my friends in beauty, and I think that’s an amazing legacy. It’s like, when something is so beautiful or when I’m laughing really hard, that’s when I feel them,” Bareilles said, to which Jones replied, “Same.”

Courtesy of Sheinelle Jones/Instagram

Jones went on to tell Bareilles how her music resonated with her before and after Ojeh’s health struggles. “I lost Uche in May of last year, so it’s only been a year. I remember, I was living in a hospital, or in hospice, eventually, but I would have my AirPods in, and I put on Sara Bareilles,” she said. “You were it for me. It felt like you were talking just to me.”

Jones’ comments made Bareilles begin to choke up. “That’s the most I could ever hope. It’s my deepest hope for this record, that people feel comfort.”

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Along with the album, Bareilles released her Good Grief documentary about the making of the record in theaters on Wednesday, September 2.

“The thing that I know about grief now is that it is so vast and varied. The ways it shows up — it can be rageful, it can be really soft, it can be joyful. So, my hope is that the record can kind of encompass the edges,” Bareilles told Jones. “It’s actually a way for me to access more compassion. It is hard for me to sort of see across the aisle sometimes. But when someone’s like, ‘I lost my child. I lost my mom. I lost my partner,’ I really can access my own humanity, and in doing so, access theirs. And I feel like that is the medicine that the world needs.”

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Tuesday’s episode of Jenna & Sheinelle marked the show’s first live show in two weeks. Jones and Bush Hager were among several Today hosts who took time off in recent weeks to enjoy the end of summer.

Jones detailed her vacation time earlier in Tuesday’s Jenna & Sheinelle episode: “I was very tempted to plan a vacation and figure out where we could go. We were gonna go to Japan with four days. But I’m like, ‘Oh, no,’” she shared. “And then I realized, ‘You know what? Sometimes the best vacation is to just be still, to let your body wake up when it wants to.’”

Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, Weekdays, 10 am, NBC