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Savannah Guthrie returned to NBC’s Today show on Monday from New York City after a more than two-month break following her mother’s disappearance.
Guthrie started her 7 a.m. ET newscast with the latest news on Iran, followed by headlines about rising gas prices, the Artemis II mission and more.
“It is good to be home,” Guthrie said to co-anchor Craig Melvin and the camera.
“It is good to have you back at home,” Melvin said.
“OK, here we go. Ready or not, let’s do the news,” she said.
At the end of the first 25-minute portion of the show, Guthrie offered Melvin a high-five. Then, emotions got the better of her before the last half hour, when she joined her colleagues in front of fans gathered at the show’s Rockefeller Center studio. She fought back tears when one fan was seen with a “Welcome Home Savannah” shirt, and clutched colleague Jenna Bush Hager’s arm and thanked people for their support.
Guthrie, one of morning television’s most recognizable faces, has been a host on the program since 2012.
Leading up to her return, Guthrie acknowledged she’s a changed person and it’s hard to go forward not knowing what happened to her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who authorities believe was taken against her will from her Arizona home in the early hours of Feb. 1.
Despite an intense search involving thousands of federal and local officers and volunteers, there has been no sign of the 84-year-old mother of three since she was reported missing.
As part of a video message released by her New York church on Easter Sunday, the Today co-host spoke about feeling “moments of deep disappointment with God, the feeling of utter abandonment.” But she said the resurrection is not fully celebrated “if we do not acknowledge the feelings of loss, pain and, yes, death.”
In announcing her return to NBC’s flagship morning show, she said she was uncertain whether she’ll feel like she still belongs.
WATCH | Savannah Guthrie offers $1M for info on missing mother :
Savannah Guthrie offers $1M for info on missing mother
Today show host Savannah Guthrie and her family are offering $1 million for any information about the whereabouts of her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who was abducted from her Arizona home a month ago.
“It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s such a place of joy and lightness,” Guthrie said just over a week ago on Today during her first interview since the disappearance. “I can’t come back and try to be something that I’m not. But I can’t not come back because it’s my family.”
One of morning television’s most recognizable faces, she said previously she didn’t anticipate faking her way through the show, which is normally light-hearted with a mix of serious, breaking news.
There had been a great deal of speculation about whether she would return.
“I want to smile, and when I do, it will be real,” she told Hoda Kotb, who came back to Today to fill in while Guthrie focused on the search for her mother. “Being there is joyful, and when it’s not, I’ll say so.”
Nancy Guthrie made occasional appearances on Today over the years, once taking part in a cooking demonstration and surprising her daughter on set.
When Savannah Guthrie returned to her hometown of Tucson in 2025 for a segment recorded for the show, the two visited one of their favourite restaurants and talked about their love of Arizona.
The Guthrie family has offered a $1-million reward for information leading to their mother’s recovery.
No new evidence released in weeks
Authorities believe Nancy was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will. They found blood near the doorstep of her home in the foothills outside Tucson. The FBI later released surveillance videos showing a masked man on the porch that night.
Volunteers and search teams scoured the nearby desert terrain filled with cactuses, bushes and boulders in the first weeks after she vanished.
But attention has faded from an investigation that was declared to be a top priority for the FBI and local authorities.
Investigators have not released new evidence in weeks and say the number of tips has slowed. The FBI and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department both said late last week that they had no updates.
Early on, some media outlets reported receiving ransom messages tied to the case. Guthrie said she and her siblings responded to two that they believed were real and offered to pay.
She said her celebrity status might be the reason her mother was taken, but that possibility was “too much to bear.”
