Inside Savannah Guthrie’s Emotional Return to ‘Today’ After Her Mom’s Shocking Disappearance
We take you inside Savannah Guthrie's first morning back—and the emotional words that stopped us in our tracks
Key Takeaways
- Savannah Guthrie, 54, returned to Today on April 6 after two months away from the desk
- Her mother Nancy, 84, has been missing since Feb. 1 in an apparent Arizona kidnapping
- Guthrie said returning to Today is "part of my purpose" and called the show her family
After two months away from the anchor desk, Savannah Guthrie walked back into the Today show studio on Monday wearing yellow—a color that has taken on deep meaning as the search for her missing mother continues. Her return was a moment many viewers had been waiting for, and it carried both warmth and weight.
Savannah Guthrie’s first morning back on the ‘Today’ show
Guthrie, 54, returned to the NBC morning show during the Monday, April 6, episode after being away since early February. She wore yellow—a color that has taken on significant meaning amid the search for her mother, Nancy Guthrie. Joining cohost Craig Melvin, 46, behind the desk with a smile, she addressed viewers with warmth that made it clear just how much the show means to her and how glad she was to be back in the studio she calls home.
“Good morning, welcome to Today on this Monday morning. We are so glad you started your week with us, and it is good to be home,” she told viewers.
Melvin assured his colleague that it was “so good to have you back.”
Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance from her Arizona Home
Guthrie’s return comes amid an ongoing family crisis. Her mother, Nancy, 84, was reported missing in Arizona on Feb. 1 after she vanished from her home in an apparent kidnapping. When her mother disappeared, Guthrie stepped away from the show and traveled from New York to Arizona amid the police investigation. During her absence from Today, Hoda Kotb filled in for her behind the anchor desk. Nearly two months have now passed, and as Guthrie has said herself, the family still does not know what happened or why.
Savannah Guthrie opens up about her mom’s kidnapping
Nearly two months after Nancy vanished, Guthrie opened up to Kotb, 61, about the tragedy in an emotional Today interview, during which she also revealed her plans to resume her duties at the morning show. The family still does not have answers about what happened or why. In a portion of the sit-down that aired on March 26, Guthrie addressed the painful possibility that her fame motivated her mother’s kidnapper—something her brother Camron Guthrie raised with her directly.
“I said, ‘Do you think [it was] because of me?’ And [brother Camron Guthrie] said, ‘I’m sorry, sweetie, but yeah, maybe,'” she recalled. “But I knew that. I hope not. I mean, we still don’t know. Honestly, we don’t know anything. We don’t know anything. So, I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom and somebody thought, ‘Oh, that girl, that lady has money, we can make a quick buck.’ That would make sense, but we don’t know.”
Guthrie added, “It’s just too much to bear to think that I brought this to her bedside,” as she apologized to Nancy and their family.
Savannah Guthrie calls the ‘Today’ show her family and her purpose
During a segment from her emotional sit-down with Kotb that aired on March 27, Guthrie spoke about what returning to the Today show meant to her in deeply personal terms. She described the show as the answer to her dreams and called it her family—the place she wanted to be when times are hard. Her words captured something many women understand: the comfort of being with the people who feel like family when life is at its hardest.
“When I look at the Today show, it’s the answer to all of my dreams, actually better than my dreams,” Guthrie explained. “It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s such a place of joy and lightness. I can’t come back and try to be something that I’m not. But I can’t not come back because it’s my family. I think it’s part of my purpose right now. I want to smile, and when I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer.”
She continued, “Being there is joyful. And when it’s not, I’ll say so. And I have been so grateful to have this family, I consider this my family, my greater family, and when times are hard, you want to be with your family. And I want to be with my family. And so I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore. But I would like to try.”
For viewers who have followed this story over the past two months, Monday’s broadcast offered a moment of reunion—Guthrie back in her familiar seat, even as the search for Nancy continues with no resolution in sight.
As the search for Nancy continues, Woman’s World joins Savannah Guthrie and her family in praying for her safe return. Anyone with information is urged to contact either the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or 520-351-4900.
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