Savannah Guthrie Returns to ‘Today’ as Search for Mom Continues

Savannah Guthrie returned to the “Today” show on Monday for the first time in more than two months since her mom Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.

Seated at the desk with Craig Melvin, Savannah told viewers, “Good morning. Welcome to ‘Today’ on this Monday morning. We are so glad you started your week with us and it’s good to be home.”

For her highly anticipated return, Guthrie opted for a yellow dress, which seemed fitting since she was called “sunshine” twice during the telecast.

“Yes, it’s good to have you back at home,” Melvin told her.

“Well, here we go, ready or not. Let’s do the news,” Savannah declared. 

Melvin added, “Yes, so good to have you back.”

Later in the telecast, Guthrie got emotional while being greeted by “Welcome back” signs at the “Today” plaza.

Holding back tears, she shared, “These signs are so beautiful. You guys have been so beautiful. I’ve received so many letters, so much kindness to me and my whole family. We feel it. We feel your prayers. So thank you so much.”

On Easter Sunday, Guthrie appeared in a video for Good Shepherd New York’s digital Easter gathering, in which she expressed “deep disappointment” that her mom has not been found.

Guthrie spoke about how Easter evokes “sunshine and joy and hope.” She admitted, “Standing here today, I have to tell you, there are moments in which that promise seems irretrievably far away, when life itself seems far harder than death. These moments of deep disappointment with God, the feeling of utter abandonment for most of us, there will come a time in our life when these feelings hold sway.”

She explained that in her own “season of trial,” she has “questioned whether Jesus really ever experienced this particular wound that I feel, this grievous and uniquely cruel injury of not knowing, of uncertainty and confusion and answers withheld in those darkest moments.”

She later added, “I have long believed that we miss out on fully celebrating resurrection if we do not acknowledge the feelings of loss, pain, and yes, death. It is the darkness that makes this morning’s light so magnificent, so blindingly beautiful. It is all the brighter because it is so desperately needed.”

Though Savannah has returned to work, it is week 10 into the search for Nancy, who disappeared without a trace from her home in Arizona. No suspects have been identified.

Weeks ago, Savannah announced that she was returning to “Today.”

During a sit-down interview with Hoda Kotb, Savannah noted, “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.”

She continued, “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.”