Sheinelle Jones Says She Looked to Jackie Kennedy and Coretta Scott King While Grieving Husband's Death

Brenton BlanchetFri, May 22, 2026 at 6:49 PM UTC

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Sheinelle Jones; Jackie Kennedy; Coretta Scott King
Credit: MediaPunch/Shutterstock; Bettmann Archive (2) -

Sheinelle Jones is recognizing the women in history who helped her during her grieving journey

The Today co-host mentioned both Jackie Kennedy and Coretta Scott King when discussing the women she thought of while navigating being in the public eye after the death of her husband, Uche Ojeh

"I told my friend that, and he's like, 'I loved Uche, but he was not Martin Luther King or JFK.' And I'm like, 'I know,' but you know what I mean? I was trying to find out who I wanted to be," Jones said

Sheinelle Jones is detailing her grief journey and the women she looked to for a blueprint.

The Today co-host, 48, opened up about her experience grieving during her Thursday, May 21 appearance on CNN Podcasts' All There Is with Anderson Cooper, as she reflected on the May 2025 death of her husband, Uche Ojeh.

When her husband died at age 45 after privately being diagnosed with glioblastoma, Jones said she turned to two women in history who also grieved the loss of their spouses publicly: Jackie Kennedy and Coretta Scott King.

"There aren't a lot of resources and conversations and things like this, but it's part of the reason why I'm willing to sit and have this conversation because I couldn't find it," Jones told host Anderson Cooper. "I joked with Savannah [Guthrie] that I went to YouTube and Googled 'Black widow,' and I got spiders. It was true."

Sheinelle Jones and Uche Ojeh attend the NAACP LDF 33rd National Equal Justice Awards Dinner in 2019
Credit: Bennett Raglin/Getty

Jones — who lost her grandmother seven months after her husband — then recalled being by herself one day and wondering "who's been in this position before," given that she also "had to deal with it publicly."

"So I was like, 'OK, who am I gonna be?' I found videos of Jackie Kennedy. And I remember watching her and being like, 'Oh my God, how did she — she looks like she has so much grace and poise, like, how?" Jones said of the former first lady and widow of John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in November 1963.

"Then I looked up, like, Coretta Scott King and I’m like, every time I closed my eyes and I pictured those women, they always had such grace," she added of the civil rights leader and wife of Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968. "I told my friend that, and he's like, 'I loved Uche, but he was not Martin Luther King or JFK.' And I'm like, I know, but you know what I mean? I was trying to find out who I wanted to be."

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Jones also got advice from friend Maria Shriver, whom she called "one of my TV aunties." Shriver, 70, told her: "You can only be you."

The Today journalist has been open with viewers about her grieving journey since her husband's death. On May 11, the mom of Kayin, 16, and twins Uche and Clara, 13, explained what it was like to celebrate Mother's Day for the first time without him by her side. She told co-host Jenna Bush Hager on Today with Jenna & Sheinelle that it was "kind of tough for me."

“I think when you have firsts — and Mother's Day was a first for me since Uche passed — you fortify your heart, right? Christmas and Easter, you kind of fortify yourself," she said. "But there's some holidays that you don't see coming that are harder than you think. Mother's Day was brutal.”

Still, Jones embraced the day and called her children her true “Mother's Day gift," revealing that she hoped Clara was inspired by her recent viral moments of dancing with Zara Larsson on Todayand interviewing Rihanna at the Met Gala.

“Clara had a recital for this gala she was in and she was dancing and she was with the kids, and I zoomed in on Clara and I got a little teary-eyed because part of me wondered — and I can only hope — she saw me earlier that day, and I'm telling you, she just, the spunk, and I was so proud of her,” Jones said. “She did this red carpet reporting and — keep in mind last week was also Rihanna — and so Clara was, I was behind the scenes, watching her interview people at the gala, and I was teary just because she did such a good job.”

Jones also detailed the day's “silver lining": "Watching Clara dance" and catching Kayin's first game back after an injury. As she put it, she “stuck the landing” of Mother's Day.

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