Savannah Guthrie returned to the TODAY show on Monday morning. This came two months after her mother Nancy Guthrie, 84, was kidnapped from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Sadly, Nancy remains missing, and the search for her continues.
Savannah Returns To TODAY
Savannah, 54, managed to keep her emotions in check and remain stoic when she opened the TODAY show alongside Craig Melvin, 46, at 7am. In fact, she only acknowledged her return by saying, “It’s good to be home.”
Check out that moment for yourself in the video below.
During the 8am hour, however, Savannah could not help but break down in tears as she greeted well-wishers with her colleagues on the TODAY show plaza. There, fans were holding loving signs and wearing yellow ribbons and shirts in honor of both Savannah and her mother.
“It’s a special Monday morning for us and for this crowd as well, special, because we’re welcoming back our North Star, SG, come on out here,” Craig said as Savannah walked out holding hands with Jenna Bush Hager, 44.
“These signs are so beautiful. You guys have been so beautiful,” Savannah told the crowd as she began to cry. “I’ve received so many letters, so much kindness to me and my family. We feel it. We feel your prayers so thank you so much.”
TODAY weatherman Al Roker, 71, offered Savannah his handkerchief. She then jokingly replied, “This is such a nice pocket square I don’t want to slobber on it.”
Check out the emotional moment for yourself in the video below.
Nancy Goes Missing
Savannah had not been on air at TODAY since her mom’s kidnapping. Nancy was last seen on the night of Saturday, January 31. That evening, she had dinner with her daughter Annie and son-in-law Tommaso Cioni. They dropped her off at home afterwards at around 9:45pm, and she tragically hasn’t been seen since.
A masked intruder was captured on Nancy’s doorbell ring camera in the early hours of February 1. He managed to cover the camera with some plants before moving forward with the kidnapping.
It has since been revealed that the masked man had been seen in the doorbell ring camera prior to the night Nancy was taken. This indicates that he may have been casing out her home.
On March 5, a TODAY spokesperson told People Magazine that Savannah visited the studio “to be with and thank her Today colleagues.” The spokesperson added at the time that Savannah “remains focused right now supporting her family and working to help bring Nancy home” but was planning to “return to the show.”
During her visit, Savannah reportedly thanked TODAY staffers for their support. She specifically thanked them for “caring about my mom as much as I do.”
“I wanted you to know that I’m still standing, and I still have hope, and I’m still me,” Savannah told the staffers. “And I don’t know what version of me that will be, but it will be. I’m holding onto my faith. I still believe. And as my mom would say, ‘where else would I go?’”
Savannah’s Decision To Return To TODAY
In an interview with her former TODAY colleague Hoda Kotb, 61, Savannah opened up about her decision to return to the show.
“It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s such a place of joy and lightness and I can’t come back and try to be something that I’m not,” Savannah admitted. “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,” she continued. “And when I do, it will be real. And 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. 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.”
“I don’t know if I can do it,” Savannah concluded. “I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore, but I would like to try. I’m not gonna be the same, but maybe it’s like that old poem, more beautiful in the broken places.”
This has clearly been an excruciatingly difficult time for Savannah and for her entire family. Please join us in saying a prayer for them, and for the return of Nancy Guthrie.