March 26 (UPI) — Savannah Guthrie is defending her family from rumors that they might have been involved in her mom Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
Guthrie, 54, spoke to her former Today co-host Hoda Kotb in a first interview since her mother was abducted from her Tucson, Ariz., home on Jan. 31. Part 1 of the interview aired Thursday on Today, with Part 2 to follow Friday.
Guthrie, whose sister Annie Guthrie and her husband Tommaso Cioni also live in Tucson, shot down speculation the couple or her brother Camron Guthrie were responsible for the kidnapping.
“It’s unbearable, and it piles pain upon pain,” she said of the rumors. “There are no words. There are no words. I don’t understand, and I will never understand. No one took better care of my mom than my sister and brother-in-law. And no one protected my mom more than my brother.”
Instead, Guthrie said she lives with the weight that the abduction was “probably” a ransom attempt due to her fame as a longtime anchor on Today.
“I don’t know that it’s because she’s my mom, and somebody thought, ‘That lady has money, we can make a quick buck.’ I mean, that would make sense,” the star said.
“Which is too much to bear, to think that I brought this to her bedside and it’s because of me,” she added. “And I just have to 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.”
Kotb, who left Today in January 2025 after more than 26 years with NBC News, has been filling in for Guthrie on the show. Guthrie, who is with her family in Arizona, visited Today March 6.