- Savannah Guthrie will return to “Today” on April 6, following her mother's disappearance.
- Popular anchor said it will be a challenge but she wants to come back to her “Today” family.
- Colleague Al Roker highlighted the religious significance of her return being on the day after Easter.
Savannah Guthrie has officially announced when she will return as an anchor on “Today.”
NBC announced on Friday that her return would happen on April 6, a little more than two months after her mother Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her Arizona home on Feb. 1.
In the third part of her “Today” interview with substitute host Hoda Kotb that aired on Friday, Savannah Guthrie talked about why she wants to return to the show while touching on how challenging it will be, per The New York Times.
“It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s such a place of joy and lightness,” she said. “I can’t come back and try to be something that I’m not. But I can’t not come back because it’s my family.
“I think it’s part of my purpose right now,” she added. “I want to smile. And when I do, it will be real. My joy will be my protest.”
Kotb has been filling in for Guthrie and spoke about her return during Friday’s broadcast, saying “she is coming back to this job that she loves.”
Guthrie’s “Today” co-anchor Craig Melvin said, “It’s where she belongs, it’s where we all want her to be. We cannot wait to welcome her back with open arms.”
Earlier this month, Guthrie made her first return to the show’s studios to thank her colleagues for their work updating viewers on the investigation into her mother’s disappearance. She told them then that she planned to return to her post as an anchor, which ended speculation that she was going to leave the position permanently.
In her interview with Kotb, Guthrie touched more on her decision to return to the show, saying that her colleagues on “Today” are her family.
“When times are hard, you want to be with your family. And I want to be with my family,” Guthrie said. “And so I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore, but I would like to try.”
She continued: “I’m not going to be the same. But maybe it’s like that old poem: ‘More beautiful in the broken places.’”
Al Roker highlights the religious significance of Savannah Guthrie’s return date
On Friday’s episode of “Today,” Guthrie’s colleagues spoke about her return. Al Roker talked about the religious significance of April 6, which is the day after Easter, per People.
“What’s wonderful, it’s almost symbolic after Easter and the resurrection, the rising, I think as a family we’ll hold hands and help her,” Roker reflected.
Melvin seemed amazed at the connection, saying, “Yes, yes, I had not thought about that. Yes.”
Jenna Bush Hager — who attends the same church as Savannah Guthrie — added that Guthrie had made that connection as well.
In her interview with Kotb, Guthrie spoke about how her faith is giving her the strength to return to “Today.” She talked about how after her father died, her mother kept going and stayed strong in faith.
“Faith is how I will stay connected to my mom, I won’t let sadness win.” Guthrie said. “She taught me, she taught all of us. And I may not do it as well as her, but I will do it. I will do it for my kids. I will. I will not fall apart. I will not let whoever did this take my children’s mother from them.”