Sheinelle Jones will return to Today on Friday, her first day back on the show since her husband, Uche Ojeh, died of glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Savannah Guthrie announced her return on Tuesday’s show. Guthrie’s interview with Jones also will air on Friday.
“We shared a really personal conversation talking about how she has carried on and found the strength these past few months,” Guthrie said. “She calls this experience ‘a beautiful nightmare,’ and she has thoughts on grief that are so touching. She’s got a special message of hope for anybody facing their own struggles, and we will share that with you.”
Jones has been with the network since 2014. She became co-host of the third hour of the show in 2019.
Jones announced in January that she was taking time off from the show for a family health matter.
Ojeh, a consultant, and Jones had been married for 17 years, having met in the late 1990s, when Jones was a freshman at Northwestern University and Ojeh, then a high school senior, offered to give him a tour of campus, Guthrie said in a tribute to him in May. Ojeh proposed to Jones eight years later during a visit to the campus. They married in 2007. Ojeh was 45.