NEED TO KNOW
On Monday, April 6, Savannah Guthrie returned to the Today show desk for the first time in over two months
Savannah has been absent from the show since her mother, Nancy Guthrie, disappeared from her Tucson, Ariz. home on Feb. 1
When Savannah greeted fans on the Today show plaza, she became emotional
Savannah Guthrie returned home to Today.
The 54-year-old anchor returned to the Today news desk on Monday, April 6, after more than two months away amid her mother Nancy Guthrie’s ongoing abduction investigation.
Savannah stayed stoic during the 7 a.m. broadcast alongside Craig Melvin, only acknowledging her return by saying, “It’s good to be home.”
However, Savannah let her emotions show during the 8 a.m. hour when she joined her colleagues out on the Today show plaza to greet well wishers. Fans were holding signs and wearing yellow ribbons and shirts in a show of support for Savannah and her mother.
“It’s a special Monday morning for us and for this crowd as well, special, because we’re welcoming back our North Star, SG, come on out here,” Melvin said as Savannah walked out, holding hands with her friend and colleague, Jenna Bush Hager.
Savannah Guthrie greens a fan on the ‘Today’ Show Plaza on Monday, April 6.
Credit: NBC
“These signs are so beautiful. You guys have been so beautiful,” a visibly emotional Savannah told the crowd. “I’ve received so many letters, so much kindness to me and my family. We feel it. We feel your prayers so thank you so much.”
Weatherman Al Roker offered Savannah his handkerchief, and she jokingly replied, “This is such a nice pocket square I don’t want to slobber on it.”
As the group continued, Bush Hager noticed a fan wearing a shirt that read, “Welcome Home Savannah,” and urged Savannah to look. The pair shared a sweet hug and an emotional exchange.
Jenna Bush Hager, Savannah Guthrie, Carson Daly, Sheinelle Jones, Craig Melvin and Al Roker on the ‘Today’ Show Plaza on Monday, April 6.
Credit: NBC
One plaza attendee, Amanda Burt, traveled from upstate New York to be there for Savannah’s first broadcast back. “It was so special. When I heard she was coming back, I just knew I had to be here to welcome her back,” Burt tells PEOPLE. “This worked out perfectly. I couldn’t believe she actually turned around and saw me and my shirt. She’s so sweet. I’m so proud of her. I love that she’s back.”
Amid their embrace, Burt said Savannah “just kept saying, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you for being here.’ It was really special.”
Before Savannah’s April 6 return, she had not been on air since January 30.
Carson Daly and Savannah Guthrie share a laugh on the ‘Today’ show on Monday, April 6.
Credit: NBC
Hoda Kotb announced that her former co-anchor would return on April 6 during the March 27 broadcast. “We cannot wait to welcome her back with open arms here in Studio 1A,” Melvin said.
While she hadn’t returned to the desk, Savannah did visit Studio 1A in March amid the continued search for Nancy. On March 5, a Today spokesperson told PEOPLE that Savannah visited the studio “to be with and thank her Today colleagues.” At the time, the spokesperson said she “remains focused right now supporting her family and working to help bring Nancy home” but was planning to “return to the show.”
During her visit, Savannah thanked the entire staff and crew for all of their love, prayers and support and for “caring about my mom as much as I do,” PEOPLE learned. She said in part, “I wanted you to know that I’m still standing, and I still have hope, and I’m still me. And I don’t know what version of me that will be, but it will be. I’m holding onto my faith. I still believe. And as my mom would say, ‘where else would I go?’”
Savannah Guthrie and her mother, Nancy Guthrie, on the ‘Today’ set in 2023.
Credit: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty
In an emotional interview with Kotb, Savannah opened up about her return to the show. “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,” she said.
“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.”
“I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore, but I would like to try,” she continued. “I’m not gonna be the same, but maybe it’s like that old poem, more beautiful in the broken places.”
The search for Nancy began on Feb. 1, after she failed to show up for a virtual church service, and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD) launched an urgent search. She was last seen on Jan. 31, after her family dropped her off at her home in Tucson.
Investigators believe that Nancy was kidnapped overnight, citing surveillance footage of a masked man at her front door. There have been no suspects named. Guthrie and her family continue to plead with the public for their help bringing their mom home.
Savannah Guthrie sits down with Hoda Kotb
Credit: NBC/Today
During her sit-down with Kotb, 61, Savannah also shared that she heard “God speak to me” amid the continued search for her mother.
“She taught me to be strong, because she taught me to be true, for my faith is strong and resolute. Early on, I felt that I heard — for one of the very few times in my life— I did hear God speak to me,” she said. “As I said to myself, ‘I can handle anything, God, I can handle anything. I just can’t handle not knowing. We can’t handle not knowing. I have to know.’ And I heard a voice. And it said, ‘You do know where she is. She’s with me. She’s with me.’ So whether she’s on this side still or whether she is in heaven, I know where she is. I know who she’s with. But we need to know.”
Anyone with information about Nancy’s disappearance is asked to please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department 520-351-4900.
Read the original article on People