Savannah Guthrie made an uncommon on-air reference to her missing mother during Thursday’s episode of the Today show, notably speaking about her in the past tense.
Guthrie, 54, brought up the personal connection while sharing her enthusiasm for the Today team’s forthcoming trip to Ireland.
The NBC anchor pointed to her mother Nancy’s Irish heritage, telling her colleagues that her family ties trace back to the Emerald Isle, while also revealing that she has never visited the country herself.
‘My mother was Irish,’ Guthrie told the Today team. ‘Her grandmother – they’re from Galway.’
Guthrie had last spoken about her mother on air in July, after NBC News reported details from a note the family received in February the month before.
The ransom letter claimed the 84-year-old died of heart failure shortly after being taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on February 1.
Guthrie previously said on-air that she believed the correspondence, unlike others, was authentic.
‘I love you guys and I love this place,’ she said at the time, before turning to the camera.
The Today team announced they are taking a trip to Ireland next month to broadcast a full episode from County Kerry. Guthrie, whose mother Nancy was declared missing in February, expressed excitement, telling her costars: ‘My mother was Irish’
Guthrie’s mother was last seen at her home in Tucson, Arizona, on January 31
‘This is unusual and unprecedented to say the least… I want to just take the opportunity to ask people, to really to beg people to come forward.
‘Somebody knows something, and this is a news story today that is on your radar, but this is the life that my sister lives, that I live, that my brother lives, that our extended families live, that our children live, every day.’
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She asserted the family was ‘in agony’ and ‘cannot be at peace.’
In late July, Guthrie posted a video to social media that the Today team immediately broadcasted.
In it, she urged an unspecified party to ‘make the right choice’ and ‘help us bring this situation to an end.’ NBC correspondent Erin McLaughlin framed it as Guthrie ‘speaking directly to the person responsible for kidnapping her mom, Nancy.’
‘The world can be a cruel and unforgiving place… So I’m asking you, begging you, to do the right thing now. Make the right choice. Help us find her. Tell us where to look for her,’ Guthrie said in the clip.
‘I truly believe it is never too late to do the right thing. Help us bring this situation to an end.’
‘For all of us, no matter where we’ve been and what we have done, I believe there is always a way home. Please make the right choice,’ she said.
Guthrie revealed her mother’s grandmother hailed from Galway. The anchor will broadcast live from Country Kerry on Friday, October 16, NBC News said
It was the seventh public appeal from the star in six months, since the search began.
More than a month later, there are no new leads and no suspects named.
Guthrie will broadcast from County Kerry with costars Craig Melvin, Al Roker, Carson Daly, Dylan Dreyer, Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones on Friday, October 16, NBC said.
The last time the Today show travelled internationally was in 2024 to Paris for the Summer Olympics.