Savannah Guthrie Abruptly Leaves ‘Today,’ Sparking Speculation Over Missing Mother

On May 6, exactly a month after returning to co-host Today, Savannah Guthrie left the show midway through the broadcast. The anchor, whose mother, Nancy Guthrie, 84, has been missing since early February, departed the morning show’s set 90 minutes into the live telecast.

At 8:30 a.m. local time, her co-anchor, Craig Melvin, addressed her absence by announcing, “Savannah had to leave a little early. She will be right back here tomorrow, though.” Melvin did not reveal why the 54-year-old journalist had left the show 30 minutes before it was supposed to end.

This sparked speculation that there might be a new development in the Nancy Guthrie case. While Savannah did not officially explain the reason behind her sudden departure, a source later told Page Six that her exit was unrelated to Nancy.

“[She went] for some sort of appointment, and her exit had nothing to do with her mom,” the insider said. As Melvin had promised, Savannah returned to the show the following day, May 7. Once again, she did not address her absence from the previous day’s broadcast and carried on with her anchoring duties.

This was not the first time Savannah had abruptly left the show. On April 15, Savannah introduced and teased an upcoming interview with actress Anne Hathaway. However, when the show returned from a commercial break, Hoda Kotb was conducting the interview instead of Savannah.

Once again, social media was rife with speculations about a potential update in Nancy’s case. But Savannah later reappeared on the program for a cooking segment. Meanwhile, insiders suggested that she did not conduct the interview due to a routine host rotation.

Savannah had taken a leave of over two months from Today in the aftermath of Nancy’s disappearance. Nancy, 84, went missing from her home in Catalina Foothills near Tucson, Arizona, on the night of February 1. While away from the camera, Savannah spent time with her family in Arizona and hoped for her mother’s return.

Meanwhile, Kotb filled in for her after having retired from the show in January 2025. On April 6, Savannah rejoined the show and resumed her professional duties. Around the time of her return, reports suggested that the Today show’s producers had decided on a code to alert Savannah if there were any updates about her mother while she was on air.

The producers would tell her she was ‘needed off set’ to update her about the investigation. “We would pull her immediately, mid-segment, if we had to. She would understand that there was news about her mom, and we’d take her into an office and tell her, at the same time that another anchor would report it as a breaking story,” an NBC insider told The Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, the Pima County Sheriff Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to search for clues that could lead them to Nancy or her kidnappers. Savannah and her siblings have promised a $1 million reward for information about their mother.