The longtime ‘Today’ host shared an emotional text from her late husband, Uche Ojeh.

Sheinelle Jones breaks down while making Today co-hosting debut with Jenna Bush Hager

The longtime 'Today' host shared an emotional text from her late husband, Uche Ojeh.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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January 12, 2026 1:20 p.m. ET

Sheinelle Jones on 'Today'. Credit:

Sheinelle Jones just made an emotional debut as Jenna Bush Hager's permanent co-host on *Today*'s fourth hour.

On the Jan. 12 broadcast, the first official episode of their newly titled show *Today With Jenna & Sheinelle*, there was hardly a dry eye in the room when Jones reflected on what it means to celebrate such a major career milestone just months after losing her husband, Uche Ojeh.

"I did not plan to share this," Sheinelle began, minutes into the show. She went on to explain that after sharing the anecdote privately with Hager, her co-host encouraged her to also share it with their viewers.

"Uche always felt like when we were in college, like, 'Oh, you should do a show,'" Jones said of her late husband, who died last May at age 45 after being diagnosed with brain cancer. "He just felt like I should and I'd be like, 'Oh, whatever, whatever.'"

Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones on 'Today With Jenna and Sheinelle'.

She continued, "And so when Hoda [Kotb] announced that she was leaving, he was really sick and so he wasn't talking as much, but I could talk to him and he would send me emojis and stuff like that. And that would be how we talked."

Jones then shared a screenshot of a text that Ojeh had sent her: an article announcing Kotb's *Today* departure. Beneath it, he added two grimacing face emojis accompanied by two thumbs up emojis, two crossed fingers emojis and two flexed biceps.

By this point, Jones' voice was thick with emotion as she explained, "There was an article that said that Hoda was going to depart and he felt like it was my turn to shine, and to try. So underneath it he put those pictures and the strong arm emojis and all the things."

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Beside her, Hager was dabbing at her own tears and commented, "The best part of the whole thing is that her response is about him."

Jones said that she didn't even address the hopeful implications of her husband's message, because his health remained her priority at the time.

Sheinelle Jones and Uche Ojeh in 2019.

Bennett Raglin/Getty

"It didn't even register for me," she shared. "He kept trying to get back to it and I was like, 'No, no. We have to save your life first. I don't want to talk about me. I want to talk about you.'"

Flexing her own bicep to imitate the emoji, Jones looked skyward and said, "Now it feels like confirmation because here we are two years later and he's like, 'Told you.'"

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The emotional roller coaster of Jones' first day didn't end there. Elsewhere in the broadcast, the *Today* host was surprised by a video message from her mom in Kansas, a visit from two aspiring journalists who attend her alma mater, and a conversation with Kassandra Fleming Hayes, the woman who inspired her to become a journalist.

Jones, a longtime co-host of *3rd Hour of Today* with Dylan Dreyer, Al Roker, and Craig Melvin, has been a member of the *Today* family since 2014.

Watch Jones reflect on her late husband's support in the video above.**

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Source: “EW Talk”