A conversation about Lady Gaga's new motherhood turned into an emotional on-air exchange between Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager, and then shifted to a raw public plea for help finding Guthrie's missing 84-year-old mother.
Guthrie, 54, was filling in for regular co-host Sheinelle Jones on Tuesday's episode of Today with Jenna & Sheinelle when the two hosts began discussing Lady Gaga, 40, and husband Michael Polansky, 42, officially becoming parents. The segment quickly became personal. Guthrie opened up about her own path to motherhood, telling Bush Hager she had both of her children, daughter Vale, now 12, and son Charles, now nine, after turning 40.
Bush Hager, 44, fought back tears as Guthrie described the experience. Earlier that same morning, Guthrie had already broken down on a separate Today segment after the show aired a clip of actress Allison Janney, 66, using her Emmy Awards press conference to talk about Nancy Guthrie, Savannah's mother, who was last seen at her Tucson, Arizona, home on January 31 and is believed to have been abducted.
The motherhood conversation started as a lighter moment. Guthrie told Bush Hager she considered her forties a great time to become a parent.
"I had my babies in my forties, which I think is a great time to have your kids. I didn't plan it that way, but that's how life turned out."
She described the trade-offs plainly, more career stability but less energy. "I like to think there's a little wisdom, but also, you get tired more quickly," Guthrie said. She noted she turned 45 just two weeks after Charlie was born.
Bush Hager steered the exchange toward what the moment had meant to Guthrie personally. "I know you felt this way, that you were just so delighted that it could happen for you," she said.
That was when Guthrie's composure cracked. She said she would never get over the feeling.
"I'll never be over it. I just feel so profoundly lucky that I got to have my kids, and I was so late in life to do it. I mean, I had Charlie, and I turned 45 two weeks later."
Bush Hager, now crying, recalled visiting Guthrie at home with her newborns. "I got to come and sit on your couch when you were a brand new mama," she said through tears. The two women had been next-door neighbors during those early years of raising toddlers, Guthrie confirmed. Bush Hager later apologized for the tears, calling herself an "empath."
Guthrie has spoken publicly about her family many times over the past several months, but those conversations have increasingly been shadowed by the disappearance of her mother Nancy from Tucson earlier this year.
Before the motherhood segment aired, the Today show played a clip from the previous night's Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Janney had won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and, instead of using her backstage press time solely for celebration, turned the conversation to Nancy Guthrie's case.
"I honestly can say I think about Nancy every day and think about the loss and what Savannah and her family are going through."
Janney added that she did not believe she was alone. "I think all of America is thinking about her," she said.
Co-host Willie Geist introduced the clip and called Janney's remarks a "beautiful expression of sympathy." He reminded viewers that the FBI is the contact point for anyone with information about Nancy Guthrie's whereabouts and noted that tips can be submitted anonymously.
Guthrie, visibly emotional, said she was moved that Janney would use her own triumph to think about the family. "It's her moment, [after] her triumph, for her to sit and take a moment to think about our family," Guthrie said. She added that she never passes up a chance to talk about her mother publicly.
The case has drawn sustained national attention. A second ransom note at one point claimed Nancy had died, prompting another on-air breakdown from Guthrie. Nancy, 84, was last seen at her home in Tucson on January 31 and is believed to have been abducted, though the source of that determination and the current status of the investigation remain unclear from available reporting.
Guthrie did not let the moment pass without making a direct plea. She described the pain her family is enduring, her sister, her brother, and their extended relatives, and asked the public for help.
"We need help, so thank you to Allison Janney for remembering us and for giving an opportunity for me to renew that call. We just want our mom home and to be able to give her a proper goodbye, that's all."
Geist echoed the message. "It was a beautiful moment and this is about bringing Nancy home," he said.
Guthrie urged anyone with information to reach out to the FBI, stressing that anonymous tips are accepted. "You can call anonymously too, our family needs you," she said.
The months since Nancy's disappearance have been grueling for the family and for Guthrie's career at NBC. She took a two-week leave from the Today show earlier this year, and the network has reportedly prepared for the possibility of additional absences as the case continues without resolution. No arrest has been made.
Guthrie has continued working through the ordeal, including a public appearance at the U.S. Open as the investigation neared seven months without a break in the case. Tuesday's broadcast showed a woman still doing her job on camera while carrying a weight most people will never have to bear in public.
Jones, the regular co-host Bush Hager usually sits beside, was absent Tuesday because she had attended the Emmy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles the night before.
An 84-year-old woman is still missing. Her daughter is still asking for help on national television. And the FBI still has no one in custody. That ought to bother every family in America.
