Sheinelle Jones returned to the Today show on September 5, after tragically losing her husband of 17 years, Uche Ojeh, due to brain cancer called glioblastoma in May. The loving duo met at Northwestern University, got married in 2007 and they shared their son Kayin, 15, and Uche and Clara, who are both 12-year-old fraternal twins. On May 23, Sheinelle vulnerably reposted a Today show segment on her social media featuring her co-stars sharing the devastating news about her husband's passing.
She captioned the video: "Thank you for all of your love and support." Her fellow journalists are consistently there for each other through all of life's hardships and tragedies and her chosen family will continue to do so as she returns. Today star Craig Melvin has transparently opened up to HELLO! in an exclusive interview about being in absolute awe of Sheinelle's strength.
Craig shared: "She is doing remarkably well considering all she's been through. I just talked to her yesterday. I was heaping praises on her, because, you know what — I think there are very few people that can understand exactly what she has had to deal with — a husband, the love of her life, [college] sweethearts, you know — he competed in triathlons for God's sakes, and all of a sudden he gets his diagnosis."
The TV star deeply empathized with the difficult challenges she has to face with her return and he stated: "And she has to still show up for work for a long time at least. They've got three young children. She [was] his primary caregiver. She's taking care of the three kids. She's in this high profile job."
Craig emphasized Sheinelle's daily perseverance and added: "She's juggling all of these things, and she's making it look easy. So much of it is incomprehensible. And then you would talk to her after the show or before the show sometimes and you're just — I would marvel [at] how well she handled all of it for so long."
The correspondent added: "And now she's grieving and she's going to have to grieve somewhat publicly. That's not, again, that's not something that a lot of folks can really understand." Although the healing journey isn't easy, Craig believes that Sheinelle's return will make her feel loved and cared for.
He continued: "I will tell you. I've said this to her a number of times — we work in one of those industries, one of those businesses where a lot of times, the place, the place being the Today Show, a lot of times the place needs us. Sometimes we need the [place] right, and right now she needs the place and the place needs her, so it's perfect that [she's] coming back on Friday."Ex