While the two solidified their onscreen partnership earlier this year, their history goes back decades.

Today cohosts Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones reveal surprising family connection

While the two solidified their onscreen partnership earlier this year, their history goes back decades.

By Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino

Daysia Tolentino is a writer at *. *She has written for * *since 2025. Her work has appeared in NBC News, Vulture, GQ, and InStyle.

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on March 4, 2026 3:55 p.m. ET

Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones on 'Today with Jenna & Sheinelle' on March 4, 2026. Credit:

Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones reflected on their longtime connection in the March 4 episode of *Today with Jenna & Sheinelle.*

The two discussed a recent interview that Jones did with *Philadelphia** *magazine where she spoke about her journey from the local news program *Good Day Philadelphia *to *Today. *The reporter pointed out the history between her father Judge C. Darnell Jones and her cohost's dad, former President George W. Bush.

"So crazy, so her father nominated my father to the federal bench,” Jones said. “So my father’s a federal judge. Can you say retired when you’re a federal judge? I don’t know. He’s a federal judge. He ended up going through in the Obama years, but it was her father that put it in motion.”

Jenna Bush Hager and George W. Bush in 2021.

Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

Hager said that the cohosts have discussed this connection before "over many a margarita." The two agreed that it was serendipitous for them to end up at the same job.

"Isn't that a wild story?" Hager said. "Who could ever predict? I think the world is a weird and wonderful place."

While both of their dads have retired from public service, Hager and Jones' own working partnership has just begun. After longtime *Today* host Hoda Kotb exited the show's fourth hour last January, the program was renamed to *Today With Jenna & Friends, *which featured a rotating cast of co-anchors to accompany Hager. Jones, who was previously a cohost on the third hour, officially came on as the permanent cohost on Jan. 12. The telecast was rebranded as *Today with Jenna & Sheinelle**.*

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Sheinelle Jones and Judge C. Darnell Jones in 2019.

Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

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During her debut broadcast, Jones shared a sweet note from her late husband Uche Ojeh, who died in May 2025 of brain cancer. She said that he struggled to speak toward the end of his life, but he still pushed her to take Kotb's chair on the fourth hour.

"There was an article that said that Hoda was going to depart and he felt like it was my turn to shine, and to try," she said.

Check out the full episode of *Today with Jenna & Sheinelle* below.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Talk”