A tearful Savannah Guthrie said she believes in prayer while opening up about her mother’s faith in an emotional interview that aired Thursday.
Guthrie sat down with NBC News colleague Hoda Kotb for a multipart interview — the first she’s given since her mother’s disappearance. After discussing the agony her family has been through, Kotb asked the “Today” co-anchor to describe her mother, Nancy, who has been missing since Feb. 1.
“My mom is so incredible, she’s resolute and strong. Quiet strength, quiet faith, but hard-fought. She’s funny and a little mischievous, I would say, in her humor. She’s a noble creature; she does what’s right,” Guthrie said.
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“She walks in faith,” she added. “Not a fake, pious put-on faith but, like, a grounded earthy, she-fought-for-it faith.”
Kobt then asked her colleague if she felt the outpouring of support she’d received.
“I do feel prayers, you know, I do. I believe that. I think she would have been just amazed. Just truly amazed,” Guthrie said.
Guthrie is believed to have been taken against her will. Her son-in-law dropped her off at home around 10 p.m. the night before she went missing from the same home the “Today” co-anchor grew up in. In the early morning hours, a masked man appeared on her doorstep.
At around 2:30 a.m., her pacemaker made its last sync with her Apple devices, indicating a potential timeframe for when she was taken out of the home. Her watch and iPhone were recovered inside. She called the home her mom’s “safe haven,” and said it was “really hard to see that violated” when she visited the crime scene.
“The terror that she must have felt is unbearable,” Guthrie said through tears.
Guthrie recalled being 16 years old and walking into her childhood home to see her mom praying because her father had passed away.
“It’s the house where all of our memories are. Good and bad,” Guthrie said. “It’s hallowed ground. My mom loved and treasured that house.”
Guthrie also said her mother taught her “a lot about grief” in the home.
“My father passed when I was 16 years old. He was only 49, and it was a shock,” she said.
“I remember my mom saying, in those early days when daddy died, ‘You have to get up and decide and do – just decide and do,’ she had read that in a book and that meant a lot to her in her grief,” Guthrie added. “I always remember that.”
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A series of unverified ransom notes were sent to media outlets, including TMZ and a local Tucson station, leading many to believe the disappearance is somehow financially motivated.
Guthrie has been away from the show since her mother went missing but returned to the Rockefeller Center studio to visit colleagues on March 5. Kotb has been anchoring alongside Craig Melvin while Guthrie is away from the show.
NBC has not announced when Guthrie will return to “Today.” An NBC insider told Fox News Digital that she wants to return, and the show wants her to as well, but it remains a question of when and how.
Guthrie’s family recently issued a renewed plea to the public.
A reward of more than $1 million is being offered for information leading to Guthrie’s recovery.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
