It’s been two months since Nancy Guthrie, the 84 year-old mother of the TODAY show host Savannah Guthrie, went missing from her home in Tucson, Arizona. Last week, we reported that Savannah is planning to return to TODAY on Monday, April 6.
Now, a friend of Savannah’s is claiming that she is “nervous” for her TODAY return.
Savannah’s ‘Emotional Rollercoaster’
“She has to have something to keep her mind off the living hell she is in,” the friend told News Nation. “And her colleagues at TODAY are like her family as well.”
“It’s such an emotional rollercoaster right now, and she knows all eyes – including whoever kidnapped her mother – are on her,” the friend continued.
Savannah is reportedly worried that she’ll break down on live TV upon her return to TODAY. However, insiders say that “everyone” at TODAY is supporting her.
Savannah’s TODAY Return
Savannah’s former co-host Hoda Kotb, who has been filling in for her during her absence, revealed last week that she will be returning on Monday, April 6.
“We cannot wait to welcome her to Studio 1A,” Savannah’s co-anchor Craig Melvin said on air.
This came minutes after the second part of Savannah’s interview with Hoda was shown.
“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 said of returning to TODAY. “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. 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,” she continued. “I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore, but I would like to try, 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.”
Nancy Goes Missing
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.
Savannah has not been on air since her mother’s disappearance. Last month, on March 5, Savannah visited TODAY’s Studio 1A in New York City “to be with and thank her TODAY colleagues,” according to a TODAY spokesperson.
“While she plans to return to the show on air, she remains focused right now supporting her family and working to help bring Nancy home,” the TODAY spokesperson told People Magazine at the time.
This has clearly been a nightmarish few months for Savannah and her entire family. As Savannah prepares to return to TODAY, please join us in saying a prayer for the return of Nancy Guthrie.