Sheinelle Jones’s husband, Uche Ojeh, has died after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was 45.
On Friday’s edition of the Today show, Jones’s co-hosts Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Carson Daly, Dylan Dreyer, and Jenna Bush Hager revealed that Ojeh had died.
“With profound sadness, we share this morning that Uche Ojeh has passed away after a courageous battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer called glioblastoma,” Guthrie said with tears in her eyes.
Jones and Ojeh were married for 18 years and share three children: son Kayin, 15, and fraternal twins Clara and Uche, 12.
“There are no words for the pain that we feel for Sheinelle and their three young children,” she continued. “Uche was an incredible person. We all loved him. ... We just want to say Sheinelle, Kayin, Uche and Clara and the Ojeh family: we are with you, we love you. You are our family and we're just sending all of our love to you right now.”
“He loved those kids more than anything else in this world, and was just so proud,” Melvin chimed in. “He was that dad that was on the sideline of every soccer game. He was at all of the concerts and the recitals. He was that guy.”
Jones re-posted the video from the episode on her Instagram account and expressed her love to her fellow co-hosts. “Thank you, for all of your love and support,” she captioned the post.
Jones revealed she was stepping away from the morning show in a January statement on Instagram, saying she was dealing with a “family health matter.”
“Hi everybody…I sincerely appreciate all of you who reached out while I’ve been absent from the show,” she wrote at the time. “I want to share with you that I’m taking time to deal with a family health matter.”
While she expressed her gratitude to her colleagues and fans of Today, she didn’t share when she’d be returning to the program.
“It’s not lost on me how lucky I am to have not only the support of my Today show family, but to also have all of you.” Jones continued. “Your kindness means so much to me. I’ll see you soon.”
Jones first joined Today in 2014, where she’s known for co-hosting 3rd Hour of Today with Dreyer, Roker, and Melvin. She also released a book, Through Mom’s Eyes, last month, which included words of wisdom from mothers who raised celebrities like Steph Curry, Shaq, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lady Gaga, Matthew McConaughey, the Jonas Brothers, Tyra Banks, and Serena and Venus Williams.
