Savannah Guthrie‘s Today the show’s return date was revealed following his emotional conversation about his mother Nancy Guthrie‘s disappearance.
Hoda Kotb told viewers on Friday, March 27, that Savannah, 54, will return to the morning show with “an amazing person” Craig Melvin Monday, April 6.
“Because he won’t let sadness win. His happiness will be his protest,” said Melvin. “This is where he lives. This is where we all want him to be. We can’t wait to welcome him here with open arms.”
Savannah discussed her decision to return in depth during an interview with Kotb on Friday.
“When I look Today show, it’s the answer to all my dreams, actually better than my dreams,” said Savannah. “It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s a place of joy and ease. I can’t come back and try to be something I’m not. But I can’t come back because my family. I think it’s part of my purpose right now. I want to smile, and if I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my opposition. My happiness will be my answer.”
He added, “Being there is a joy. And if not, I will say so. And I have been very grateful to have this family, I consider this as my family, my big family, and when times are difficult, 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 would like to try.
In parts of Savannah’s interview that aired on Thursday, March 26, the episode of Todayspoke on many topics about the disappearance of his 84-year-old mother. At one point, Savannah broke down in tears when she remembered guessing with her brother, Cameron Guthrieabout whether his reputation was part of the kidnapper’s possible motives.
“I said, ‘You’re thinking [it was] because of me?’ And he said, ‘I’m sorry, honey, but yes, maybe,'” she recounted, “But I knew that. I hope not. I mean we still don’t know. In fact, we don’t know anything. We don’t know anything. So, I don’t know if it’s because she’s my mother and someone thought, ‘Oh, that girl, that lady has money, we can make a quick buck.’ That would make sense, but we don’t know.”
Savannah added, “It’s so hard to think that I brought this to her bedside,” before apologizing to her mother and family.
Savannah also responded to the “useless and wild speculation” that anyone in her family had a hand in Nancy’s disappearance.
“It’s unbearable and it piles pain on top of pain, there are no words, there are no words, I don’t understand, I won’t understand,” she said. “And no one cared for my mother more than my sister and my brother-in-law. No one protected my mother more than my brother. We love her and she is our light. She is our matriarch. She is all we have.”
Savannah Guthrie’s first sit-down interview following the disappearance of her mother Nancy Guthrie was emotional. Savannah, 54, returned to Namuhla in a three-part interview with her former colleague Hoda Kotb, which premiered on Wednesday, March 25. The women shed tears as they discussed the continued search for Nancy, 84, who went missing from her home in Arizona. […]
Later in the interview, Savannah revealed that God spoke to her during her ongoing search for her mother.
“As I was saying to myself, ‘I can handle anything, God. I can handle anything, I just can’t handle not knowing, I have to know,'” she recalled, “I heard a voice saying, ‘You know where He is—with me.'”
He concluded, “So, whether you are still on this earth or in heaven, I know where you are, I know who you are with. But we need to know.”
Savannah’s sit-down with Kotb, 61, marks her first TV interview since her mother was reported missing in Arizona on February 1. Savannah has been resting Today show since his mother disappeared, with Kotb filling in during her absence. As the search for Nancy continues, her family – who have offered a $1 million reward for information leading to her return – are still hoping someone will reach out to authorities with information that will bring her home.
