Savannah Guthrie’s – Savannah Guthrie returned to the “Today” show while her mother, Nancy Guthrie, remains missing in Arizona. In a June 8 conversation with Jenna Bush Hager, Guthrie said coming back to work has been “really hard,” and that she cries daily on the way to and from
Savannah Guthrie knew the day would be difficult before she even stepped into NBC’s morning studio.
On Monday. June 8. the “Today” anchor appeared as guest cohost of the show’s fourth hour with Jenna Bush Hager. and the emotion couldn’t be contained for long. Guthrie. 54. spoke with a shaky honesty as she described what it feels like to return to work while her mother. Nancy Guthrie. remains missing in Arizona.
“It’s really hard to come back. I’ve been trying so hard to hold it together,” Guthrie said, choking up.
Guthrie said she is “happy to be back,” and that hosting gives her a “little respite” during the day and brings her “a lot of joy” because the people she works with are like family. But she didn’t try to dress up the reality.
“No, it’s not easy,” she said.
She explained that her decision to return wasn’t about pretending the situation is manageable—it was about showing up anyway. “I don’t think if I had any other kind of job, I would have even tried to come back, but I just felt like, ‘Well, what else should I do?’” Guthrie said.
She added that her mother would have told her to keep going. “And my mom would have said the same, like, ‘Honey, just keep going, just keep going.’ And so I am.”
Guthrie pushed back against assumptions people might make from the outside. “I know maybe people wonder, ‘What’s going on? How is she able to do that job? Is she not thinking about it? Did she forget?’ No. Never,” she said.
Then she described the private cost of the public routine. “I cry every morning on the way to work, and I cry every morning on the way home.”
The search for Nancy Guthrie continues as authorities pursue what they describe as a case of someone being taken from her home against her will. Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing in Arizona on Feb. 1.
The Guthrie family has offered a reward of $1 million for information leading to her recovery. The investigation is ongoing, with the sheriff in the case saying search efforts are “getting closer.”
Guthrie stepped away from “Today” for two months after her mother went missing, then returned to the air on April 6. At the start of her first episode back, she said: “Well, here we go. Ready or not, let’s do the news,” and she thanked supporters for their kindness and prayers. She has continued hosting since then.
On June 8, Hager also responded to what Guthrie has managed to carry while still lacking answers about Nancy Guthrie’s whereabouts. Hager said she has “marveled” at Guthrie’s strength, telling her, “We’ll have your back,” and adding, “We’ll be with you forever with this.”
Before Guthrie’s official return to work, she visited the “Today” studio in early March and told colleagues she planned to resume her job. She later sat down for an emotional conversation with Hoda Kotb, where she reflected again on why she chose to come back.
“It’s hard to imagine doing it, because it’s such a place of joy and lightness,” Guthrie told Kotb. She said she couldn’t bring herself to perform a version of herself that didn’t feel true. “I can’t come back and try to be something that I’m not.”
At the same time, she said she couldn’t stay away. “But I can’t not come back, because it’s my family.”
Guthrie described her return as part of her purpose right now—showing up with real feeling rather than hiding it. “I think it’s part of my purpose right now. I want to smile. And when I do, it will be real.”
She said her joy would be a form of response. “My joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer, and being there is joyful. And when it’s not, I’ll say so.”
In the months since Nancy Guthrie was reported missing, Guthrie’s return has been more than a scheduling milestone. It has become a daily negotiation between the life she has to live in front of the camera and the grief she carries beyond it—one she described in plain terms. every morning and every night.
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