Sheinelle Jones Shares Her Son Is ‘Injured’ Months After Husband’s Death

Sheinelle Jones says her son is experiencing some real-life growing pains, which are keeping him off the sports field. 

Jones, 47, is mom to son Kayin, 16, and twins Uche Jr. and Clara, 13, whom she shares with her late husband Uche Ojeh.

Though she didn’t specify which of her sons sustained the injury, Jones said she used his struggles to teach him an important lesson. 

“I was all over the universe this weekend. My son had a soccer game, like, an hour and a half outside of the city, and he’s injured,” she shared on the 3rd Hour of Today on Monday, Sept. 22. “He’s having this — you know you hear about growth pains or growing pains? — he’s actually having them, like, under his knees. It actually is common for boys when you’re growing.” 

Opening up about the situation, the Today co-host added that she used the experience to teach her son how to be a good teammate. 

“I talked to him about being a good sport, so we still drove an hour and a half to be on the bench,” she said, before joking, “That was tough, ’cause I was sitting on the bench.”

Jones’ son’s injury comes just weeks after she returned to the Today show after taking an extended hiatus from the NBC morning show. She exited Today in late 2024 in order to spend more time with Ojeh ahead of his May death. 

She returned to the show on Sept. 5, opening up about her grieving process and how her family is coping in the wake of Ojeh’s untimely death. 

“My heart is shattered in a million pieces,” Jones shared in an emotional sit-down interview with Savannah Guthrie. “The life that I’ve known since I was 19 is no more. I’ve always wanted kids, and I have three kids of my own now, and they’ve lost their dad. And I’m their mom. It sucks.”

At the time, Jones shared that one of the biggest struggles for her kids has been the loss of their “dad’s dad,” who was very involved in their lives. 

“I know people say that, but I’m telling you, and I think about it, my 15-year-old, he’s been to more countries than I have — World Cups and soccer camps and music theater, let’s go to this play, all over the world,” she said. 

“The beautiful days are harder than the rainy days because the beautiful days he would have taken them out,” she added. “They would have gone to kick a ball. Our first vacation after he passed, it was hard. I thought it would be this respite, we’d go to the beach, and we’d go back to our happy place, but for our boys, it was a nightmare. I’m not surfing. I’m not doing any of that stuff. I’m not kicking a soccer ball on the beach. It’s been tough.”