Why Sheinelle Jones Has Been So Candid About Her Grief After Uche Ojeh’s Death
Navigating grief is never easy, and there’s an added complication in doing so in the public eye.
Whereas Sheinelle Jones could have retreated after the death of her husband Uche Ojeh in May 2025, choosing to keep her sadness hidden from cameras and audiences, she’s instead leaned into sharing her journey with the world.
Because for the Today host , there really was no other option but honesty.
"If I'm having a tough moment, I have to just say it,” Sheinelle, 48, told E! News in an exclusive interview. “What I realized is, when the men and women that we admire, who sometimes we think have it all, when they allow themselves to take the veil down or just say, ‘Hey, you know what, guys? I'm having a tough day,’ and they're honest about it—it's healing in a way that I think I underestimated.”
Not only is it healing for the viewer, she said, but sharing her experiences has been therapeutic for her, too. And she’s shared more than most, from sitting down for an interview with her Today colleague Savannah Guthrie about Uche’s cancer battle to detailing her mixed emotions in an Instagram post celebrating her first birthday since his death.
The candor—and the ability to lean into whatever emotions she’s feeling in the moment—is also a lesson Sheinelle learned from Matthew McConaughey’s mom, Kay McConaughey, who shared her wisdom in Sheinelle’s new book Through Mom’s Eyes: Simple Wisdom From Mothers Who Raised Extraordinary Humans, out now.
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“One of the things that she holds dear is the power of humor,” Sheinelle explained. “I took it to heart. So, if I'm on the show and I'm having a good time, it's because I allow myself to be present in the moment and have a great time. If I'm having a tough day, I allow myself to have a tough day.”
It admittedly took a moment for her to internalize the significance of what she was doing.
“People kept saying, ‘You're so strong, you're so strong,’” she recalled. “And I'm just trying to survive, you know? At the beginning, I was just trying to get out of bed. It's like, ‘I have to go to work. So I'm going to get myself out of bed. I'm going to get to work.’”
She continued, “It's like you're doing the things that you feel like you have to do and somebody else sees it as strength. And I'm thinking, ‘Am I? Oh, me? I'm strong? Oh, okay.’”
But after weighing all she’s done in the last year— releasing her book and co-hosting Today with Jenna & Sheinelle alongside Jenna Bush Hager—against the backdrop of her grief, Sheinelle is ready to give credit where credit is due.
“I was so busy trying to celebrate the strength of everyone else that it's honestly, maybe not until now, that I'm thinking, ‘You know what? Maybe I should celebrate my own,’” she said. “We don't do that for ourselves, but I'm finally starting to say, ‘You know what? I think I need to give myself some credit here, because it wasn't easy.’”
Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
It’s that same level of strength Sheinelle is trying to embody for her and Uche’s children, 16-year-old son Kayin Ojeh and 13-year-old twins Clara Ojeh and Uche Ojeh.
“If I can get up and go on national television every day and try to write a book and talk about things that I'm passionate about, then you can, too,” she said. “You can run for student council. You can go out for that soccer team. You can go out for that audition.”
“I think I'm trying to model what I hope they can be,” she added. “I want to model resilience, I want to model humor, I want to model strength. It's easier said than done, but that's what I'm going for.”
Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images
And she hopes readers can find the same inspiration, comfort and community within the pages of Through Mom’s Eyes that she did while writing it.
As she put it, “All of the chapters in that book, they were pouring into me and making me feel better and comforting me when all I was trying to do was do it for someone else. So, it kind of served as a double purpose in many ways.”
Through Mom’s Eyes: Simple Wisdom From Mothers Who Raised Extraordinary Humans—which began as a digital series in 2018, before Sheinelle decided to turn it into a book—is available for purchase now.
And for a look back at Sheinelle and Uche’s most beautiful family moments, now memories she and her kids will have forever, read on.
Sheinelle Jones/Instagram
Life Partners
Sheinelle Jones often spoke about how she met her husband Uche Ojeh while giving him a tour of campus at Northwestern University when she was just 19.
As Savannah Guthrie noted in Today’s May 23 tribute to the consultant, he was a “remarkable man who was Sheinelle’s perfect partner in life.”
Sheinelle Jones/Instagram
Dedicated to Faith
Throughout his battle with glioblastoma, the Today anchors emphasized that Uche was devoted to his faith as well as his Nigerian heritage. In a post from 2021, Sheinelle shared that all three of their kids dressed in “native Nigerian wear” for their baptism.
Sheinelle Jones/Instagram
That Guy
As the father of kids Kayin, and younger twins Clara and Uche Jr., Uche put his family first.
“He loved those kids more than anything else in this world,” Craig Melvin emphasized in Today’s tribute. “He was just so proud. He was that dad that was on the sidelines of every soccer game, all of the concerts, recitals. He was that guy.”
Sheinelle Jones, Instagram
A “Humble Man”
During Today’s broadcast, Al Roker noted that while Uche was quiet, he was “wickedly funny,” adding, “He was a humble man.”
Sheinelle Jones/Instagram
Biggest Supporter
In a birthday tribute to Uche in 2021, Sheinelle emphasized that her late husband was always by her side.
“When I put in his picture and click ‘search’ on my iPhone ... pretty much ALL of the pics, are of him by my side,” she explained on Instagram. “And/or helping the kids with homework, music or soccer lessons. I am truly thankful to be on this journey with such a beautiful human being.”
Sheinelle Jones/Instagram
Going the Distance
In the Today segment honoring Uche, Savannah emphasized that Sheinelle and Uche overcame obstacles including long distance to make their romance work. And for Sheinelle, it was all worth it. As she wrote in a tribute post to Uche in 2022, “You caught my eye when I was 19 years old …. and here we are.”
Sheinelle Jones/Instagram
Warriors
Amid their hardest battle together, Savannah emphasized that both Sheinelle and Uche were “warriors.”
As Savannah emphasized, Uche was “a man whose joyful spirit and quiet strength complemented Sheinelle in every way.”
Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Saying Goodbye
In a post following the segment announcing Uche’s tragic death, Sheinelle wrote, “Thank you, for all of your love and support.”
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