Savannah Guthrie (right) with mother Nancy Guthrie in 2015. Don Arnold/WireImage It’s been two months since Savannah Guthrie returned to NBC’s Today show amid the ongoing disappearance of her mother, Nancy Guthrie.
And it’s still a struggle for her to get through the day, Savannah Guthrie shared Monday as she joined close friend Jenna Bush Hager as a guest co-host on the fourth hour of Today, now known as Today With Jenna & Sheinelle.
“I can’t really even look at you every day without crying,” Savannah Guthrie told Bush Hager while tearing up. “You are my best friend. You know, it’s really hard to come back. I’ve been trying so hard to hold it together, and I promise I will.”
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“When I see you in the morning, I know you see me, no matter what is going on,” Savannah Guthrie told Bush Hager. “And sometimes that’s almost too much because I feel like to do the job I gotta keep it together, pull it together. But I’m happy to be back. It’s like the two hours of my day — it’s not that I’m not thinking about it, because I am, but it’s something to do and it brings me a lot of joy to be with everybody. But, no, it’s not easy.”
Savannah Guthrie added that while she hasn’t forgotten about her mother’s tragic case, being back on Today offers a “little respite” from the pain she feels.
And she shared that the connection she feels with her Today colleagues was part of what drew her to return to the NBC morning show.
“You are my family. I don’t think if I had any other kind of job I would’ve even tried to come back,” she said. “I just felt like, ‘What else should I do?’ And my mom would’ve said the same: ‘just keep going, just keep going.’ And it’s hard when you’re with your best friend to not be real.”
Bush Hager noted earlier in their chat that it was National Best Friends Day, making Savannah Guthrie’s appearance particularly appropriate.
But Savannah Guthrie shared that she’d been reluctant to guest co-host with Bush Hager since she returned despite their close friendship.
“I was a little afraid in a way to do this show with you,” she said, recalling how Bush Hager had asked before and she’d said she wasn’t ready. ” I couldn’t look at you in this setting where we just talk about life and tell the truth about life and not tell the truth about my life.”
And even though Savannah Guthrie may seem happy on Today, she hasn’t forgotten about what happened to her mom.
“I know maybe people wonder, ‘Whoa, what’s going on? How’s she able to do that job? Is she not thinking about it? Did she forget?’ No, never. Never,” she said.
“It’s always with me,” Savannah Guthrie said of her mom’s disappearance. “I cry every morning on the way to work, and I cry every morning on the way home. And I’m grateful to have good friends and to be able to come to such a beautiful and joyous and supportive place. Like so many people out there, you can hold all of these things together. I try to tell my kids that too. We can hold our sadness and we can hold our joy. And if you don’t believe it, just watch me.”
Bush Hager also spoke about Savannah Guthrie’s faith, calling it a marvel. But Savannah Guthrie admitted that that too has been a struggle lately.
“I’m working it out, step by step; it isn’t easy,” she said.
As for her mother’s case, she said, “We still need everybody’s prayers. I wish someone would call and say what they know and tell the truth.”
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was reported missing on Feb. 1 after she didn’t show up at a friend’s house to watch a livestream of church service from Savannah Guthrie’s New York church. A day later, local authorities said they believed she was abducted.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and FBI have since led a search to find Nancy Guthrie but have yet to name a suspect in her disappearance. They did, however, release surveillance footage showing a masked individual at her front door.
Savannah Guthrie was off of the NBC morning show in the weeks after her mother disappeared, as she and her siblings regularly released video messages pleading for their mother’s return and offering to negotiate with Nancy Guthrie’s alleged kidnappers, going on to offer a $1 million reward for any information leading to her recovery, in addition to the FBI’s $100,000 reward.
During her absence, Savannah Guthrie’s former Today show colleague Hoda Kotb returned to the show to fill in for her friend as co-host. Kotb also conducted a sit-down interview with Savannah Guthrie in late March, in which Savannah Guthrie opened up about learning of her mother’s disappearance and shared her perspective as the investigation unfolded. She also revealed then that she would be returning to her role as co-host on the NBC morning show, with April 6 serving as her first day back.
“I will not fall apart. I will not let whoever did this take my children’s mother from them. I will not let them take my joy,” Savannah Guthrie told Kotb. “They will not take my sister’s joy. They will not take my brother’s joy. They will not take our love. They will not take our faith. But our anguish is real.” But she pleaded for answers to her mother’s whereabouts.
“As I said to myself, ‘I can handle anything, God, I can handle anything. I just can’t handle not knowing. We can’t handle not knowing. I have to know.’ And I heard a voice. And it said, ‘You do know where she is. She’s with me. She’s with me.’ So whether she’s on this Earth still or whether she is in heaven, I know where she is. I know who she’s with. But we need to know.”
In the Instagram post highlighting Savannah Guthrie’s appearance on Jenna and Sheinelle, Today also highlighted the reward for info about Nancy Guthrie and urged anyone with information to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Guthrie also used Instagram this weekend to remind people about the ongoing search for her mother, sharing a post to her Instagram Stories of a painting that shows Christ’s ascension.
“Oh my, my soul it cries out, soul, it cries out,” the text reads. “Bring her home.”
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