Sheinelle Jones Discovers Old Text From Late Husband About Her New ‘Today’ Role

Sheinelle Jones is looking back on a special message from her late husband as she enters her new role on the fourth hour of the TODAY show.

As Jones officially became Jenna Bush Hager’s permanent co-host on Monday’s first-ever edition of Today with Jenna & Sheinelle, she shared a text message she received before husband Uche Ojeh’s death in May that made her new position feel particularly fated.

“Uche always felt like when we were in college, like, ‘Oh, you should do a show, you should do a talk [show].’ He just felt like I should, and I used to be like, ‘Whatever, whatever,’” Jones recalled at the start of the show. “When Hoda announced that she was leaving, he was really sick, and he wasn’t talking as much, but I could talk to him, and he could send me emojis and stuff like that, and that would be how we talked.”

Jones then shared a screenshot of the text Ojeh had sent to her in fall 2024 after news broke that Hoda Kotb was stepping down from her role at Today with Hoda & Jenna. In his text, Ojeh added smiling and thumbs up emojis to flexed arm and fingers crossed emojis as he reacted to the news of Kotb’s departure.

“It was an article that said that Hoda was going to depart, and he felt like it was my turn to shine and to try,” Jones said through tears.

“It didn’t even register for me,” she recalled. “He kept trying to go back to it, and I was like, ‘No, we gotta save your life first. I don’t want to talk about me. I want to talk about you.’ So now, it just feels like confirmation because here we are two years later, and he’s like, ‘Told you.’”

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Ojeh died in May 2025 of glioblastoma at the age of 45. Jones took an extended absence from TODAY to care for him and their three children — son Kayin, 16, and twins Clara and Uche Jr., 13 — in Ojeh’s final days.

In December 2025, almost a year after Kotb made her January 2025 exit, Bush Hager announced that Jones would become her permanent co-host after almost a year of guest hosts.

“When I came back from leave, I talked about fighting for my joy. This is what it looks like,” Jones said of joining Bush Hager. “It feels divine. It feels like Uche’s up there with God. He’s Mr. Competitive. He’s like, ‘Alright, let’s make this happen for Sheinelle.’ I put on his shirt this morning, and I said a little prayer, and I’m like, ‘Let’s go be with — not my friend, but my sister.’”