‘Today’: Savannah Guthrie Breaks Down ‘Hard’ Decision to Return to Show

Savannah Guthrie‘s Today return date has officially been set, but the decision wasn’t any easy one for the host to make.

The second half of Savannah’s sit-down interview with Hoda Kotb aired on the NBC morning show’s Friday, March 27, episode. Following the segment, Kotb revealed that Savannah will return to Studio 1A on Monday, April 6. Savannah has been absent from the show since the week of February 2 as the search for her missing mother, Nancy Guthrie, continues.

In the interview, Savannah said it was “hard” to imagine being back on the show “because it’s such a place of joy and lightness,” adding, “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.”

Savannah said she’s been “so grateful” for her Today family over the past several weeks. “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,” she told Kotb. “And so, 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. And I’m not gonna be the same, but maybe it’s like that whole poem; ‘We’re beautiful in the broken places.'”

Nancy was last seen at her home in Tucson, Arizona, on January 31, and was reported missing the following day. No suspects have been named, but authorities have cleared the Guthrie family. The family has also announced a reward of up to $1 million for information on Nancy’s location.

Savannah remained in her home state as the investigation commenced. Earlier this month, she returned to New York City and stopped by the Today set for an emotional visit. “I really wanted to come and see everybody. I just love this beautiful place that we call home, where we get to come and be every day,” Savannah recalled. “And I know how much people have prayed for me and loved me, all the people that you see on TV, and then all the people that you don’t. All the notes and messages that I have received are just so beautiful. I just wanted to be with my family. They’re my family, too.”

Kotb noted that during the visit, Savannah said she didn’t know how to return to the show, but also didn’t know how to continue her absence. “That’s how I feel when I look at the Today show, which is the answer to all my dreams, actually better than my dreams,” Savannah stated.

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Earlier in the conversation, Savannah opened up about wrestling with her faith following Nancy’s abduction. “I’m not done. But God doesn’t tell us not to wrestle with him,” she said. “This isn’t some cheap faith, and my mom taught me that. God only requires our authentic presence, and that he has, and I never doubted.”

She also recalled advice her mother once gave to a friend about how to keep their faith amid difficult times. “My mom said to her, ‘But where else would I go?’ And I hold that with me. But faith is how I will stay connected to my mom. God is how I’m holding hands with my mom, and I won’t let sadness win, for her.”

Savannah recalled watching her mother grieve after her father, Charles, died of a heart attack when she was 16 years old. “I may not do it as well as her, but I will do it. I will do it for my kids, I will. I will not fall apart,” she stated. “I will not let whoever did this take my children’s mother from them. I will not let them take my joy. They will not take my sister’s joy. They will not take my brother’s joy. They will not take out love. They will not take our faith.”

On the flip side, Savannah said her family’s “anguish is real” and they still need “help.” She added, “We need someone to tell the truth. I have no anger in my heart. I have hope in my heart. I have love. But this family needs peace. I don’t think we deserve anything more or less than any other person.”

Nathan Congleton/NBC

She continued, “We need an answer, and someone has it in their power to help. It is never too late, and when you do, the warmth of love and forgiveness that will come will be greater than can be imagined.”

Kotb suggested that someone in the Tucson community may have forgotten they had seen something suspicious. “How can someone vanish without a trace? How?” Savannah asked. “Someone knows something, even if that something is someone’s been acting strange for the last seven, eight weeks. Even if it’s just that, somebody knows, and maybe somebody’s afraid, and I understand that. But our hearts are in agony. We can’t breathe. We can’t live. We can’t go on. We can’t be at peace. We can’t go forward. We have to know what happened to her.”

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