Sheinelle Jones accidentally revealed her chain-smoking childhood babysitter’s name while live on “Today.”
“I used to have a babysitter who would have Betty Boop all over the place,” the journalist told co-host Jenna Bush Hager during Thursday’s broadcast while discussing an upcoming Betty Boop movie. “Remember how people used to have those Betty Boop posters? She was an older lady. I remember she was a chain smoker.”
“This was the ‘80s,” Bush Hager reassured the audience.
Jones, 48, then pretended to smoke a cigarette, while mimicking a gravelly voice.
“She had a voice like this … sorry,” she stated. “Is that OK that I said that? That, and we would watch ‘Grease.’”
“Did you like her?” Bush Hager, 44, inquired, to which Jones said she “loved her” before unintentionally saying her name.
The anchor quickly cover her mouth, asking, “Can we take that out? Oh shoot.”
Bush Hager tried to comfort Jones, saying that back then “everybody smoked. It was OK!”
Jones insisted that, despite her sitter’s habit, she enjoyed their time together.
“We would watch ‘Grease’ and she would make me sandwiches and she had Betty Boop everywhere,” Jones reiterated.
She added with a laugh, “Let’s get back on topic.”
Jones grew up in Wichita, Kansas, with her parents C. Darnell and Sheila Jones — who are now divorced — and her four siblings.
After graduating high school, the NBC star attended Northwestern University, where she met her husband, Uche Ojeh.
Jones and Ojeh tied the knot in 2007 and were married until the businessman’s death from cancer at age 45 last year.
The couple share three kids: Kayin, 16, and 13-year-old twins Clara and Uche Jr.
Jones recently detailed who she does lean on as a single mom.
“Here’s the truth — my co-workers have really been there for me in so many different ways,” she told Good Housekeeping in April. “Dylan [Dreyer] is a tough cookie with three boys, and when I’m feeling wishy washy, she gives me those eyes, and I can get it together.”
“Meanwhile,” Jones continued, “Hoda [Kotb] is the heart. She’s the one I can call about anything, and she’s the one who told me to put Clara in musical theater. They’ve been amazing, truly.”
She also credited her male co-workers for helping her see a healthy work-life balance.
“Al [Roker], he is my Mr. Miyagi,” Jones gushed. “He’s been there as a parent, and all of his kids have graduated. Willie [Geist] was at my first book event in Connecticut.”
She went on to note that Carson Daly was the first person she heard from after landing the gig on “Today.”
“Every single colleague has their own special little place in my heart,” she said, “and it’s not just the moms in my work life.”
Read the full article here
