Savannah Guthrie will return to Today show next month: ‘Joy will be my protest’ | US news
Savannah Guthrie will return to NBC’s Today show next month after a two-month absence due to the apparent kidnapping of her 84-year-old mother, saying in an interview airing Friday: “Joy will be my protest.”
Hoda Kotb said after her emotional interview with the former co-host. It was published Guthrie will return on April 6. Guthrie said it’s hard to imagine returning to a place of joy and lightness. Guthrie said he doesn’t know if he can do it or if he’ll belong there anymore, but he wants to try.
“I can’t go back and try to be something I’m not. But I can’t go back because they’re my family,” Guthrie said. “I think that’s part of my purpose now. I want to smile, and when I do it will be real and my joy will be my protest.”
Nancy Guthrie was reported missing on February 1. Authorities believe she was abducted, kidnapped or otherwise taken against her will. The FBI released surveillance video of a masked man outside Guthrie’s front door in Tucson the night he disappeared. The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to their mother’s recovery.
In another portion of the interview with Kotb released Thursday, Guthrie shared that he and his siblings knew their mother’s disappearance was not a case of one person wandering off, given the pain she was experiencing and knowing the doors in her home were open, blood was on the front doorstep, and a camera was filming.
She said they knew something was wrong and her brother quickly realized their mother had been kidnapped for ransom. While Guthrie said some of the alleged ransom notes were fake, he believed the two he and his brothers responded to were real.
In the portion of the interview that aired Friday, Guthrie pleaded for information again, saying his family needed answers and that someone had the power to help.
“How can someone disappear without a trace?” Guthrie asked in the interview. “How? Someone knows something… We can’t be at peace. We can’t move forward. We need to know what happened to him.”
