Today show host Sheinelle Jones has revealed that she secretly suffered a devastating miscarriage 12 years ago, while opening about the ‘painful’ grief she felt after the ‘traumatic’ loss.
Sheinelle, 43, has welcomed three kids over the years with her husband, Uche Ojeh; together, they have a son, named Uche, 12, and nine-year-old twins, named Kayin and Clara.
But before her son was born, the TV personality said she suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage – which left her feeling like her sadness would ‘never end.’
In a personal essay published by the Today show, Sheinelle opened up about the loss of her unborn baby, revealing that her miscarriage occurred while she was attending a journalism conference – with the on-air host recalling how she continued to work until one of her mentors finally made her take a break.
She said she was in so much ‘pain’ afterwards, but she only took a few days off of work – forcing herself to ‘tuck her grief away’ and ‘keep moving forward.’
‘I was an anchor in Philadelphia and I was pretty stressed out at the time,’ she recalled. ‘I remember finding out that something was wrong [with the baby]; the doctor told me the baby’s heartbeat was weak. In response, I did what a lot of women do: I just kept moving forward.
Today Show host Sheinelle Jones has revealed that she secretly had a miscarriage 12 years ago, while opening about the ‘painful’ grief she felt after the ‘traumatic’ loss
Sheinelle, 43, has welcomed three kids over the years with her husband, Uche Ojeh. Together, they have a son, named Uche, 12, and twins, named Kayin and Clara, nine
Sheinelle (pictured while pregnant with her nine-year-old twins) said that she felt as though her sadness would ‘never end’ in the wake of her miscarriage
‘I was at a journalism conference and I was going from table to table, meeting people in the news business, networking in my blazer and heels and feeling so sick. I miscarried while I was there.
‘It took one of my mentors saying, “Sheinelle, go back to your hotel room and rest. This is traumatic.”’
Afterwards, Sheinelle recalled feeling ‘so sad,’ and said ‘nothing would make her feel better.’
‘You’re grieving. I remember asking my girlfriend, “When is this sadness going to end?”
‘I took a couple days off, but it was the news business – I had to get back to work. It was so painful, but I think you take the grief and tuck it away somewhere as you move forward in life.’
Now, she said she is sharing her story in an attempt to help other women who are going through the same thing.
She continued: ‘Shortly after, I had my first son, who is now 12 years old, and then my twins, who are now nine.
‘I didn’t have any problems with those pregnancies, and today I can’t imagine my life being any different.
‘But it wasn’t until the last couple of years that I even remembered how painful that experience was.
It happened while she was attending a journalism conference, and Sheinelle said she continued to work until one of her mentors made her take a break
She said she was in so much ‘pain’ afterwards, but she only took a few days off of work – forcing herself to ‘tuck her grief away’ and ‘keep moving forward’
Now, she said she ‘can’t imagine her life being any different’ but is sharing her story in an attempt to help other women who are going through the same thing
‘It’s amazing what the mind will do to move forward with grief. I had completely forgotten how dark that time was.
‘Then I think about all the women who are still stuck in that place of grief, and I just want to help.’
She wants to encourage more people to talk about infertility challenges so that women don’t have to ‘struggle silently.’
She is now gearing up to release a documentary about fertility problems, called Stories We Tell: The Fertility Secret, which airs on Sunday.
‘For so long I have listened to girlfriends talk about the infertility challenges they battle behind closed doors,’ she added.
‘I have watched them struggle silently. They move forward with their careers, go to church, the gym – all while carrying this painful secret.
‘As a society, we’re doing ourselves a disservice by letting people navigate something so challenging in silence.
‘We need to talk about what women are really dealing with. I’m not a doctor. I’m not a researcher. But I am a journalist, and I can tell stories.’
Sheinelle’s Today co-host Dylan Dreyer previously revealed that she too suffered from a miscarriage.
In 2019, Dylan admitted that she and her husband, Brian Fichera – who shared one son, named Calvin, at the time – had lost their baby.
She wants to encourage more people to talk about infertility challenges so that women don’t have to ‘struggle silently’
Sheinelle’s Today Show co-host Dylan Dreyer previously revealed that she too suffered from a miscarriage
In 2019, Dylan revealed she and her husband, Brian Fichera – who had one son, Calvin, at the time – had lost their baby. She called the experience a ‘nightmare,’ and said she blamed herself
Months later, the couple announced that they were expecting another child together, and their second son, Oliver, was born in January 2020
She called the experience a ‘nightmare,’ and said she began to blame herself for the tragic loss.
‘In news that came as pure joy – we found out that I was pregnant a second time. It was a “jump up and down, jump into each other’s arms” kind of moment. We were so excited,’ she said.
‘Then one morning eight weeks later, as I got ready to go into work on Today, I realized I was bleeding like I never had before.
‘I was having a miscarriage. To go from that high of finding out we were pregnant to this extreme low – right before I had to go into work – it was like a nightmare come true.
‘You doubt yourself. What did I do wrong? I thought back on everything I’d done over the past several weeks: Did I walk too much? Did I exercise too much? Should I not have done this or that?
‘I even thought of a moment a couple of days earlier when my brother had playfully thrown a snowball at my back. As irrational as it was, my mind ran with it: Was it the snowball?
‘Of course it wasn’t the snowball or the exercise or the walking. But in that moment, the self-blame is hard to escape. You just have this ultimate guilt.’
Months later, the couple announced that they were expecting another child together, and their second son, Oliver, was born in January 2020.