Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie announced she will return to NBC News’ morning show on Monday, April 6.
Guthrie revealed her return date during an emotional interview with her former co-anchor, Hoda Kotb, saying, “When times are hard, you want to be with your family. And I want to be with my family,” referencing her NBC News colleagues.
Acknowledging the difficulty of the situation, as the search for her mother, Nancy Guthrie, approaches two months, with authorities still aggressively pursuing all angles, Guthrie went on to say, “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.”
Explaining how she’s coping with her mother’s absence, Guthrie said, “Faith is how I will stay connected with my mom. God is how I am holding hands with my mom.”
NBC News aired Guthrie’s lengthy interview with Kotb over three days, with Friday’s segment being the last portion of the sit-down.
She revealed in the earlier parts of the interview that the family does not know anything regarding the disappearance of their mother, and that a couple of the ransom notes that they received were real.
Guthrie believes that being an on-air personality played a role in her mother’s abduction, expressing guilt, saying that it’s “too much to bear, to think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me.”
Her return to Today will be her first on-air appearance since January 30, two days before the unsettling revelation of her mom’s abduction. Kotb has been filling in during her absence.
Earlier in the month, Guthrie visited her morning show colleagues for an off-air reunion, according to a Today spokesperson, giving her a chance to be with them and thank them for their support.
Preparing viewers for what to expect of her when she makes her solemn return, Guthrie told Kotb, “I’m not going to be the same,” adding, “But maybe it’s like that old poem: ‘More beautiful in the broken places.’”
