Sheinelle Jones recently reflected on her first Mother’s Day since the passing of her husband, Uche Ojeh.
While cohosting Monday’s episode of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, Jones opened up to Jenna Bush Hager about the emotional weight of the holiday. She admitted that Mother’s Day felt “tough” this year as she navigated her first one since the passing of her husband of 18 years.
”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,” Jones explained. “But there are some holidays that you don’t see coming, that are harder than you think,”
When co-host Jenna Bush Hager asked if Mother’s Day was one of them, Jones described it as “brutal.”
Jones said that Ojeh was the one to do “everything,” like” rallying their kids to get a card together.”
“So I realized, ‘Oh, we don’t have that.’ I think we all quietly realized it,” Jones said.
Through her difficulty, Jones said there was a “silver lining” as she was swept away in all of her kids’ activities,
”My little guy had a game at 9 a.m., Kayin had a game at 7 p.m., and Clara had dance. So it was like, I couldn’t stay in bed,” Jones said. “Then watching Clara dance, and my little guy’s been injured, but it was his first game back,” she said. “And watching Kayin playing on the higher team, I was like, okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Hager reflected on the “irony” of Jones finding such deep joy through her children. She noted that the essence of Mother’s Day is ultimately found in “watching them and being proud of them.” Reflecting on the milestone, Jones felt she had successfully “stuck the landing” of her first year navigating the holiday without her husband.