What To Know
- Sheinelle Jones celebrated her twins Clara and Uche’s eighth grade graduation.
- Jones detailed each of her kids’ emotional graduation speeches.
- Jones shares all three of her kids with her late husband, Uche Ojeh, who died at the age of 45 in May 2025.
As Jenna Bush Hager noted on the Thursday, June 11, episode of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, Sheinelle Jones just celebrated a “very big milestone” in her house.
“I have three high schoolers now,” Jones announced at the top of the episode. “So, my twins, they graduated from eighth grade yesterday. Jones shares her son, Kayin, and twins, Clara and Uche, with her late husband, Uche Ojeh, who died at the age of 45 in May 2025 following a private battle with brain cancer.
On the show, Jones showed a throwback photo of Clara and Uche from their first day of kindergarten, as well as a photo of herself with the twins at their Wednesday, June 10, graduation ceremony.
“It was emotional. It was a small school, so every kid gives a two-minute speech,” she shared, noting that Clara and Uche’s speeches were “so different” from each other. “Clara got up there, and I said, ‘Can I hear your speech in advance?’ And she’s like, No, Mommy.’ And it was, I mean, not a dry eye in the house,” Jones said. “She talked about how it’s been such a journey and she remembers her first day in kindergarten and not knowing anybody. And fast forward to last year, and how she looked back at the funeral and there were just all of her classmates there. I didn’t see that coming. And then, she was like, ‘Mommy, you’re my best friend,’ and I’m just [sobbing].”
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Bush Hager quipped, “You said you were gonna try not to cry,” to which Jones replied, “I know, but when a child does that, there was not a dry eye in the house.” Detailing Uche’s speech, Jones added, “He’s got that smile, looking just like his dad, and it was just comical. He was like, ‘I love competition,’ and he talked about how when they were in kindergarten, they had to stop letting him play UNO and Connect 4 because he was too competitive. I forgot about that.”
The thing that made Jones “proud” of Uche’s speech was the “special shout-out” he gave to the school’s maintenance team. “Everybody gave them a round of applause. He was like, ‘Those are the guys. They look out for you when you come in,’ and you know how that is,” she shared. “And so, after the graduation ceremony, we went out to the foyer. All the maintenance guys were there, and they just did this big bear hug, and it was just…”
Bush Hager went on to ask, “Were you just sitting there thinking, ‘How is my baby a high schooler?’” Jones responded, “Three high schoolers, and they’re all bigger than me. So, it was a beautiful moment.”
Addressing viewers, Jones added, “For all of you guys who have graduates, pre-k, kindergarten, fifth grade, eighth grade, you celebrate these moments because it goes by so quickly.”
Jones previously took several months off from Today before and after Ojeh’s death. She returned to the NBC morning show in September 2025 and was announced as Bush Hager’s new fourth hour of Today co-host that December. The show relaunched as Jenna & Friends in January.
Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, Weekdays, 10 am, NBC