Savannah Guthrie is returning to her place on the Today show after two months away, when her mother, Nancy Guthrie, went missing.
Guthrie’s Return
Savannah Guthrie was back in her anchor chair on Monday morning, sitting next to co-anchor Craig Melvin.
She was sporting a bright yellow dress and a matching heart necklace, which is the same color as the flowers and ribbons people have been leaving outside her mother’s Arizona home.
Guthrie started with the morning’s top headlines, and then she took a moment to comment on the sunrise.
“Pretty shot of the sun coming up. Good morning, welcome to Today on this Monday morning we are so glad you started your week with us and it’s good to be home,” Guthrie stated.
The comment prompted Melvin, who was sporting a yellow tie, to respond, “Yes, it’s good to have you back at home.”
“Well, here we go,” Guthrie said. “Ready or not, let’s do the news.”
At 7:30 am, the pair was joined by Al Roker and Carson Daly at the news desk.
While Guthrie’s message was professional on Monday morning, she took a more emotional tone on Sunday’s Easter message, admitting at times, “life itself seems far harder than death.”
Support From Fans
Fans were ecstatic to see Guthrie back in her place, with many standing outside the building wearing yellow ribbons on their clothes and waving signs of support behind the window, which was also covered in yellow flowers.
Melvin pointed out some of the signs between segments, with Guthrie saying, “Some beautiful signs out there. I’m excited to see them, give them all a huge. I’ve been really feeling the love so much.”
Later in the show, Guthrie and her co-hosts stepped outside to see the signs and support from the fans. Guthrie shared tearfully, “These signs are so beautiful. You guys have been so beautiful. I received so many letters, so much kindness, to me and my whole family. We feel it. We feel your prayers, so thank you so much.”
Deciding to Come Back
Before Savannah Guthrie came back to work, she had an interview with Hoda Kotb.
“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,” she explained. “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.”
Guthrie added, “I don’t know if I can do it. 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.”
Mother’s Disappearance
Savannah Guthrie was set to host the Winter Olympics, but things turned for the worse.
On February 1st, news arrived that her mother had been abducted, and Guthrie flew out to her mother’s home in Arizona. When she got to her mother’s home, Guthrie immediately knew something was “very wrong.”
She said, “There was blood on the front doorstep, and the Ring camera had been yanked off and so we were saying this is not okay.”
Surveillance videos revealed an armed man wearing a mask and gloves approach and tamper with the doorbell camera early on February 1st. The Guthrie family has since publicly responded to ransom notes with video messages, offering to pay for their mother’s safe return, though they have not received a response.
The search for Nancy continues with local authorities and the FBI, but so far, their leads haven’t led to any breakthroughs or suspects.
The Guthrie family is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to Nancy’s recovery, while the FBI also has a reward of $100,000 for information.