Savannah Guthrie broke down as she reflected on whether her “Today” show fame is to blame for the kidnapping of her mother, Nancy Guthrie.
The “Today” show anchor — in an emotional interview with Hoda Kotb — credited her “brilliant” brother, Camron Guthrie, and his military background for “very clearly” eyeing what may have sparked her mother’s disappearance from her Arizona home on Feb. 1.
“He said [on the phone], ‘I think she’s been kidnapped for ransom,’ and I said, ‘What? Well, why? What?’” recalled Savannah Guthrie, who noted that the family initially believed the 84-year-old had a medical episode overnight due to blood splatters on the front porch and a doorbell camera that was “yanked off.”
“It sounds so, like, how dumb could I be — but I just, I didn’t want to believe — I just said, ‘Do you think — because of me?’” she said.
Guthrie wiped away tears before wondering if someone knew that her mother lived at the residence and thought they could “make a quick buck” from her.
“That would make sense … which is too much to bear. To think that I brought this to her bedside, that it’s because of me?” said Guthrie as she began to sob.
“And I just say, I’m so sorry, Mommy. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry to my sister and my brother and my kids and my nephew and Tommy, my brother-in-law. Just — I’m like, so sorry. I’m so sorry. If it is me, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Moments after the “Today” show aired the interview on Thursday, anchor Craig Melvin reflected on his “dear friend” blaming herself for her mother’s kidnapping.
“That was the hardest part,” Hotb replied.
“[That she] would blame herself for any of this when it was some sicko or sickos out there who would kidnap a woman in the middle of the night,” Melvin continued.
Charles Sykes/Invision/Associated Press
Guthrie’s comments arrived in her first on-camera interview following her mother’s kidnapping.
The anchor has been on leave from the “Today” show in the weeks since. A source close to the program told celebrity.land that she’s expected to return to the NBC morning staple next month.
Authorities have continued to investigate the 84-year-old’s disappearance as a kidnapping and released video footage last month showing a masked person approaching her front door before she went missing.
“We’re not giving up,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told Tucson, Arizona’s CBS affiliate KOLD-TV earlier this week.
The Guthrie family has offered a $1 million reward for information that leads to the 84-year-old’s recovery. The FBI, too, has offered up to $50,000 for information that leads to her recovery and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone tied to her disappearance.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.celebrity.land ’
