“The Today” show has more information about Savannah Guthrie’s return after she visited the set on Thursday and made an emotional appearance off-camera. After her surprise visit, the NBC News talk show said that she thanked her coworkers for their love and support and for “caring about my mom as much as I do.”
Since her mother, Nancy Guthrie, was apparently kidnapped in Tucson, Arizona, on the weekend of January 31, the long-time co-anchor of Today has not been on the air.
Nancy Guthrie, who is 84 and has a heart condition, has not been seen or heard from since. Right now, the Pima County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI haven’t made any serious leads public.
“I wanted you to know that I’m still standing, and I still have hope, and I’m still me. I don’t know what version of me that will be, but it will be,” Guthrie told the Today team during her visit.
It was unclear whether Guthrie would return to work on Today, but during her visit, she said she does plan to return, although she isn’t sure how it will all work out.
“I have every intention of coming back. 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,” Guthrie told the team, per Today.
Guthrie’s return to the show has not yet been set. Hoda Kotb and Sheinelle Jones, both of whom went to school with Guthrie, have mostly taken her place today, along with her co-anchor Craig Melvin.
It was revealed during Savannah Guthrie’s visit that meteorologist Dylan Dreyer led the team in a prayer in which they said, “We’re here holding hands as a family in a place where we don’t understand why this is happening.” Every day, it’s not too much to ask God for the biggest miracles.
“It felt like the right moment for all of us,” Dreyer said on Friday’s show to leading the prayer. “When I feel helpless, I pray… We asked for that miracle.” Dreyer also said it was their “gift” to give Guthrie the love and support in that moment.
“I think we needed to see her as much as she needed to see us,” co-anchor Al Roker added of the reunion that fellow anchor Carson Daly noted wasn’t planned.
“She came into the middle, no speech, spoke from the heart. Said the most perfect words you could ever imagine and looked every one of this family in the eyes,” Daly said. “Yesterday was one of the most special days not just in our lives professionally but personally.”
Laura Jarrett praised Guthrie for still being herself despite the “nightmare” she is living: “She’s still Savannah. She’s still funny. She was still cracking jokes. She was still sarcastic.”
“Her grace is second to none under pressure,” Daly added.
When talking about Guthrie’s possible return, co-anchor Jenna Bush Hager said, “Even though it feels like the hardest thing to do, it’s also her home and where she feels so loved, and she is beyond loved here.”
Jones added, “I hugged her, and I’m like,e ‘you know what you are here, and we love you. Everyone loves you, and whenever you’re ready, we are here.”
They shared that Guthrie also told the team that she still believes in her faith in God: “And as my mom would say, ‘Where else would I go?’”
