It’s been nearly 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.
On Friday morning, Savannah revealed when she will be making her return to the TODAY show in the wake of her mother’s disappearance.
Savannah To Return To TODAY
Savannah’s former co-host Hoda Kotb, who has been filling in for her during her absence, revealed 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, 54, 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 Returns To TODAY Studio
Savannah has not been on air since her mother’s disappearance. Earlier this 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.
During this visit, Savannah reportedly thanked the entire staff and crew for all of their love, prayers and support and 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 staff and crew. “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?’”
“I have every intention of coming back,” she added. “I don’t know how to come back, but I don’t know how not to. You’re my family. And, I would like to try.”
‘I’m So Sorry, Mommy…’
During her interview with Hoda, Savannah could not help but break down in tears over the thought that Nancy may have been targeted because of her own wealth and fame.
“I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom and somebody thought oh that girl, that lady has money, we could make a quick buck,” Savannah said.
“Too much to bear to think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me. I just have to say, I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry,” she continued. “I’m sorry to my sister and my brother and my kids and my nephew and Tommy and my brother-in-law, just, like, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
This has clearly been a nightmarish few weeks 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.