Savannah Guthrie and Willie Geist Commend Sheinelle Jones For Her Bravery As She Returns to ‘TODAY’ Following Her Husband’s Passing: “We’re So Proud of Her and Just Happy She’s Home”

As Sheinelle Jones made her return to TODAY, Savannah Guthrie and Willie Geist had nothing but praise for their colleague.

Guthrie and Geist co-hosted this morning’s installment of Today with Jenna & Friends while Jenna Bush Hager was out on assignment, and highlighted how “this has been such an important day for our Today Show family.”

“And we really do feel like we are a family,” Guthrie added. “And one of our most beloved family members was back today, Sheinelle.”

Jones, who is a co-host on TODAY‘s third hour, took time away from the show starting in January to care for her husband Uche Ojeh, who was diagnosed with brain cancer. Ojeh passed away in May at the age of 45. Jones’ return to TODAY was announced earlier this week by Guthrie, who conducted a previously recorded interview with her that was aired this morning.

Geist replied, “Sheinelle is back. I cannot tell you—and I’m sure you’ve had the same experience—how many times over the last several months people have asked me on the street or in my family or anywhere, ‘How is Sheinelle doing?’ People want to know, and today they got a chance to hear from her in your breathtaking conversation.”

Guthrie commended Jones’ bravery, saying that “she’s been an incredible warrior through all of this.”

“And when she was coming back, she really wanted to be able to tell her story. So we sat down together before her coming back to the set to share what she’s been through, what the road looks like, and how she has found the strength these past few months after the loss of her husband, Uche,” she said of their interview.

A clip from their conversation was shown, in which Jones told Guthrie, “I know there could be people watching me in hospital rooms around this country, and what I know to be true is that I see you and I’m part of this club. But cancer doesn’t have to steal our joy. We can get up, we can get out of bed, and we can go to work. We can go to school. We can squeeze the most out of the days that we have. And honestly, I feel like Uche’s heartbeat lives on in mine.”

After the clip played, Guthrie said Ojeh was “an incredible person” who was “full of life” and “energy,” and she and Geist highlighted sentiments that Jones shared that struck them, including how “the best” Jones and her children can do is “love life and grab life for him, in his name [and] in his honor.”

Geist chimed in, “And I love what you said in your conversation that she said, if you see me out there, root for me. I’m gonna need a little of it.”

Guthrie replied, “We have a show that is sometimes super serious, and often full of laughs and love and lightness. And that’s the show we want her to be a part of and her to come back and feel like she can do. So she was saying, you know, it’s ok if I smile. If you see me laughing or you see me on the 9:00 hour having a blast with my colleagues, don’t think, ‘wasn’t she in grief’?”

As Guthrie noted, Jones said to “root” for her, and that she is “fighting for [her] joy.”

“It was just absolutely a beautiful conversation. We’re so proud of her and just happy she’s home,” she added.

Geist echoed that they “can’t wait to see her back where she belongs on Monday,” and took a moment to praise her “smile.”

“It’s kind of become a cliche, but it is. She walks in the room and lights the place up,” he explained. “And just to see her able to smile, sitting with you and sort of giving you strength, I’m sure, almost as an interviewer. If you are standing so tall right now in this moment of your grief, we all have to do that for her.”

Guthrie also assured Geist and TODAY viewers that Jones “still has her humor.”

Today with Jenna & Friends airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.