Two months after her mother, Nancy Guthrie, disappeared from her home in Tucson, Savannah Guthrie has made her bittersweet return to the Today show.
Savannah was back at the anchor’s desk at the start of Monday morning’s broadcast, seated alongside co-host Craig Melvin.
“Pretty shot of the sun coming up. Good morning, welcome to Today on this Monday morning we are so glad you started your week with us,” Savannah said on air.
After running through the morning’s top headlines, Guthrie turned to Melvin and remarked, “It is good to be home.”
“Yes, it’s good to have you back at home,” Melvin replied.
Clearly fighting back emotion, Savannah added, “Well here we go, ready or not, let’s do the news.”
Savannah’s return comes more than 60 days after her mother, Nancy Guthrie, disappeared in the middle of the night.
Sadly, police seem no closer to locating Nancy or determining the identities of her captors.
Many of the fans who stood outside of Studio 1A this morning held signs welcoming Savannah back.
The TV veteran kept things strictly professional, but throughout the search for her mother, she has been candid with fans about the agony of the process.
In a recorded message delivered to Good Shepherd New York on Easter morning, Savannah admitted that “life itself seems far harder than death.”
Last month, Savannah gave a candid interview to Hoda Kotb, in which she became emotional while describing her family’s search for answers.
“I wake up every night — in the middle of the night every night,” Savannah told her former co-anchor, adding:
“And in the darkness I imagine her terror and it is unthinkable.
“But those thoughts demand to be thought, and I will not hide my face.”
Speaking of her return to Today, Savannah had this to say:
“It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s such a place of joy and lightness, and 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. I think it’s part of my purpose right now. I want to smile. And when I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer.
“And being there is joyful. And when it’s not, I’ll say so. I have been so grateful to have this family. I consider this my family, my greater family, and when times are hard, you want to be with your family. And I want to be with my family.”
Savannah was mostly focused on the headlines this morning, but she did take a moment to acknowledge the signs welcoming her back.
“Some beautiful signs out there. I’m excited to see them, give them all a hug. I’ve been really feeling the love so much,” she said.
We’re sure the entire Today family was thrilled by her long-awaited return.