Sheinelle Jones’s 16-year-old son, Kayin, quickly spotted an unexpected perk of her new role co-hosting the fourth hour of TODAY with Jenna Bush Hager.
For as long as he can remember, Kayin’s mother has worked in morning television, slipping out in the dark well before he and his 13-year-old twin siblings, Clara and Uche, were awake.
So upon learning that Friday episodes of the fourth hour are typically pre-taped, Kayin went to his mom with a request.
“My 16-year-old said, ‘So does that mean, Mom, you can take us to school sometimes in the morning on Friday?” Sheinelle recalled during the third hour of TODAY on Dec. 10, drawing an audible ripple of awwws from Al Roker, Craig Melvin and Dylan Dreyer.
“I was like, ‘You like me?’” she said, her face lighting up. She added that she joked with them, “Maybe you guys can make me breakfast.”
She shared the sweet story a day after Jenna named Sheinelle as her new permanent co-host, a moment Sheinelle described as “surreal.”
“I feel like I haven’t landed yet,” Sheinelle said, adding that a co-worker reassured her: “You don’t have to land. Just float.”
Sheinelle shares her three children with her late husband, Uche Ojeh, who died at 45 from brain cancer in May after 17 years of marriage. Returning to work in September brought a complicated mix of emotions.
“My coach was gone, right?” Sheinelle told Jenna in September. My life partner. The days after my first week were tough, because this is my new normal.”
Kayin, Clara and Uche were the first people she told about the fourth hour.
“They were so happy for me,” Sheinelle said. “There was so much joy in our house, and we needed that joy. When I came back from leave, I talked about fighting for my joy. This is what it looks like.
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