Savannah Guthrie has officially returned to the “Today” show more than two months after her mother, Nancy Guthrie, was reported missing.
The beloved journalist returned to Rockefeller Plaza’s Studio 1A Monday morning, sitting in his usual spot next to Craig Melvin.
After summarizing the upcoming news, Savannah told viewers, “Good morning. Welcome to ‘Today’ this morning. It’s great to start your week with us. It’s great to be home.”
Melvin looked at her with a smile and replied, “I’m glad you’re home.”
“Ready or not, let’s go! Let’s report the news,” she said cheerfully.
On this day, Savannah wore a bright yellow dress and Melvin also wore a yellow tie.
Her co-host from Arizona adopted the color as a symbol of hope, remembrance and support for her mother’s safe return.
Prior to the episode’s first commercial break, Savannah and Melvin held hands as weatherman Al Roker proudly looked on.
Savannah briefly returned to the Today show last month for a two-part interview with Hoda Kotb.
This was Savannah’s first public interview since Nancy was reported missing from her Arizona home on February 1st, and after Savannah visited the Today set on March 5th to thank colleagues for their support during her mother’s disappearance.
In the two-part show, Savannah revealed how she first learned of her mother’s disappearance and shared surprising new clues related to Nancy’s alleged kidnapping.
“My sister called me and said, ‘Are you okay?’ And she said, ‘No. “She said, ‘Mommy’s missing,'” Savannah recalled. “So I said, ‘What? What are you talking about?’ She said, ‘He’s gone.'”
Elsewhere in the first part of her emotional interview, the grieving broadcaster revealed that the back door of her mother’s home in Tucson had been “swung open,” something that was previously unknown.
“That’s why we said, ‘This can’t be right,'” Savannah told Kotb, detailing how her beloved mother was likely taken “in the middle of the night, in her pajamas, no shoes, no medication.”
Savannah mentioned the various ransom notes she and her siblings received in connection with Nancy’s disappearance, but shared her belief that only two of them were legitimate.
“I received various notes, most of which, from my understanding, are not genuine,” she explained. “I didn’t see it, but anyone sending a fake ransom note needs to take a deep look at themselves.”
She added: “However, we believe the two returned notes we received are genuine.”
Savannah described speculation that her family was somehow involved in Nancy’s alleged kidnapping as “cruel” and “unbearable” before addressing how her two children have dealt with their grandmother’s disappearance.
She also sobbed as she admitted that she may have been at fault for the kidnapping of her beloved mother.
“It’s my fault. I just want to say, I’m so sorry, Mom,” she said through tears.
“I’m so sorry,” Savannah continued. “I’m so sorry to my sister[Annie Guthrie]and my brother[Cameron Guthrie]and my kids and my nephew and my brother-in-law Tommy. I’m so sorry, I would be so sorry if it were me. I’m so sorry.”
The “Today” co-host didn’t say her mother was no longer with us, but she did share a sacred experience she had with God early in the search for Nancy.
“I’m okay with everything, God, I’m okay with everything,” she recalled thinking. “I can’t stand what I don’t know. I can’t stand what I don’t know. I have to know.”
Savannah continued. “Then I heard a voice saying, ‘You know where she is. She is with me. She is with me.'” So I know where she is, whether she is still here on earth or in heaven. I know who she’s with, but I need to know. ”
