Shaynell Jones accidentally revealed the name of her childhood babysitter who was a chain smoker during a live broadcast on “Today.”
“Betty Boop used to have a babysitter who would take her everywhere,” the journalist told co-host Jenna Bush Hager on Thursday’s broadcast while discussing the upcoming Betty Boop movie. “Remember how people used to have posters of Betty Boop? She was an older woman. I remember she was a chain smoker.”
“This was the ’80s,” Bush Hager assured the audience.
Jones, 48, pretended to smoke a cigarette while imitating a raspy voice.
“She sounded like this…I’m sorry,” she said. “Is it okay for me to say that? So we’re going to watch ‘Grease.'”
“Did you love her?” asked Bush Hager, 44, to which Jones replied, “I love you,” before saying his own name.
The anchor quickly covered her mouth and asked, “Can I take it out? Oh, shoot me.”
Bush Hager tried to console Jones, saying at the time, “Everyone was smoking. It was okay!”
Ms Jones claimed that despite her sitter’s habits, she enjoyed their time together.
“We were watching ‘Grease,’ and she made us sandwiches, and she had Betty Boop everywhere,” Jones repeated.
She laughed and added, “Let’s get back to the topic.”
Jones grew up in Wichita, Kansas, with her parents, C. Darnell and Sheila Jones (now divorced), and four siblings.
After high school, the NBC star attended Northwestern University, where she met her husband, Uche Ojie.
Jones and Ogier married in 2007 and remained together until the businessman’s death from cancer last year at the age of 45.
The couple have three children, 16-year-old Karen and 13-year-old twins Clara and Uche Junior.
Jones recently detailed who she relies on as a single mother.
“Here’s the truth: My co-workers have really helped me in so many different ways,” she told Good Housekeeping in April. “Dylan (Dreyer) is tough on the three boys. She gives me that look when I’m in an annoying mood and I can pull it together.”
“On the other hand,” Jones continued, “Hoda[Kotb]is my heart. She’s the person I go to for everything, and she’s the one who told me to get Clara into musical theater. They were really great.”
She also credited her male colleagues with helping her achieve a healthy work-life balance.
“Al (Roker), he’s my Mr. Miyagi,” exclaimed Jones. “He was there as a parent and all his kids graduated. Willie (Geist) came to my first book event in Connecticut.”
She went on to say that Carson Daly was the first person she contacted after getting the job on Today.
“Every colleague has a special little place in my heart,” she said, “and it’s not just the mothers in my work life.”
