Jenna Bush Hager has announced Sheinelle Jones as her new permanent co-host on the fourth hour of the Today show on NBC.
Bush Hager, a Dallas native and daughter of former President George W. Bush, had been hosting Jenna and Friends with a rotating cast of guests since the departure of Hoda Kotb in January.
The show will be renamed Jenna and Sheinelle starting on Jan. 12.
“Today, I am so thrilled to announce I have found my forever friend, and we are going to start a brand new journey,” Bush Hager said, fighting back tears during the start of her show Tuesday. “I couldn’t be more excited to share this person with you all.”
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She went on to call Jones an “extraordinary broadcaster” who “exemplifies exactly what this show is all about.”
Jones joined the Today show’s weekend edition in 2014 and began co-hosting the third hour of the weekday show in 2019.
“To have a show like this is beyond my wildest dreams,” she said Tuesday. “This is the real deal, and I get to do it with Jenna.”
Jones was a guest host on Jenna and Friends in September.
“Hopefully this will be a date where you walk away and go, ‘OK, hopefully she calls me tomorrow!’” she told Bush Hager then.
“You’re coming back,” Bush Hager said.
Jones’ appearance came shortly after her return to Today following the death of her husband, Uche Ojeh, from brain cancer in May. She spoke to Bush Hager in September about how losing her husband has affected her and her family.
“My coach was gone, right? My life partner. The days after my first week were tough. Because it’s my new normal,” she said.
Bush Hager became a correspondent for Today in 2009 and co-host for the fourth hour of its weekday show in 2019.