Tragic Details About Today Co-Anchor Savannah Guthrie

The stunning Savannah Guthrie has been a staple at NBC for well over a decade. The host is part of the "Today" morning block and lends her talents to special events like the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Olympic Games, and even some presidential debates (Savannah Guthrie's performance at a Trump town hall was especially buzzy). But what you don't know about Savannah Guthrie is the road that she took to get to NBC. Guthrie went back to school, changed careers, and returned to broadcasting all before starting her time at NBC. While Guthrie now has a career many only dream of, it took years of hard work and sacrifice to achieve it.

As if making it and staying at the top at NBC weren't hard enough work, Guthrie has had a series of tragedies to contend with. From loss in different capacities to major and minor health concerns, Guthrie has been through plenty. Here are the tragic details about "Today" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie.

Savannah Guthrie suffered an unimaginable loss early in her life. When the TV host was 13 years old, her father suffered his first heart attack. As Guthrie shared, her family didn't realize that her father's heart was not healthy. Three years later, when Guthrie was 16, her father had another heart attack, which turned out to be fatal. Guthrie's father's death greatly shaped her life. "I think it changes everything. I always think of it as on our calendars we have B.C. and A.D. There's a before and after. It's just this stark dividing line. There's before my dad died and there's after, and it's profound," Guthrie said on an episode of the podcast "Now What? with Brooke Shields" in 2023.

Guthrie has been very open about the role her father's death has played in her life, and she's been especially candid about how she's grieved her father's death since it happened — she believes that she will her entire life. Not every part of her father's death has been negative for Guthrie, though. As the TV host has shared, she's not sure if she would've chosen her career path had she not lost her father, and she's certainly gained more empathy for others because of the loss. "I don't know what I would have done, but I know fundamentally it changed everything. And some things it changed for the better, in the sense of, I know that my heart is more tender because of it," Guthrie said.

Savannah Guthrie has been open about many of the struggles she's faced in life, but there is one area she has kept a bit more private: her first marriage. In the late-2000s, Guthrie was married to BBC producer Mark Orchard. The NBC host filed for divorce in 2009 and reportedly cited that she and Orchard had been living separately since 2008. Guthrie and Orchard had only been married for four years when she filed for divorce. And there seems to be a reason why Guthrie hasn't discussed it much publicly. When writing about her divorce in her 2024 book of essays, "Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere," Guthrie said, "I can't write about other things — things I do remember but I don't want to talk about," as reported by USA Today. "There is no scandal here, just disappointment," she wrote.

Savannah Guthrie has been married to Michael Feldman since 2014, but has been open about how events like her divorce shaped her relationship with God. Guthrie is public about her Christian faith, and while she's had moments of doubt, her divorce and other life tragedies have only strengthened her belief in the end. "All of what I have come to realize is that all of that is my faith story: belief and doubt, you know, joy, and also disappointment and sorrow. It's all part of my faith journey. It's all enhanced what I believe and have come to understand about God," Guthrie said in an interview for Today.

Savannah Guthrie's journey to motherhood took some time. The TV host had always wanted to have children, but after going through a divorce in her 30s and taking a while to get remarried, Guthrie began to wonder if motherhood was in the cards for her. "I stopped even letting myself hope or believe I could [get pregnant], because the years were getting on," Guthrie said in an interview for Good Housekeeping. "It wasn't that I thought it was impossible; I just thought it wasn't likely. I didn't want to get my hopes up. I just tried to tell myself that it would be OK if it didn't happen," she said.

After wondering if pregnancy would happen for her, Guthrie realized a dream she'd had for years: she became a mother. The TV host gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in 2014. However, tragedy struck after. When Guthrie became pregnant a second time, she miscarried. Though Guthrie wanted another child so that her daughter could have a sibling, she feared again that welcoming a child into the world wasn't going to happen. "Going through what we did, it makes you realize that everything has to go just right to have a healthy baby. I really feel for so many women who are struggling and wishing and wondering, 'When's it gonna be my turn?' I know. And I understand," Guthrie told Health (via Today) of the trials she's faced while becoming a mother.

After suffering a miscarriage, Savannah Guthrie and her husband, Michael Feldman seriously discussed whether they wanted to try to have another child. Ultimately they decided to make an attempt, but that meant Savannah Guthrie would have to undergo in vitro fertilization, or IVF. "When making that decision about whether to go through IVF, my husband and I talked about it a lot. I didn't want to start a process where we spent all of our present searching after some future ... when our present was so lovely and beautiful and enough," Guthrie said in an interview for Health. IVF wasn't an easy process, either. It took two rounds of IVF for Guthrie and Feldman to conceive a child, and parenthood almost didn't happen for them a second time. Fortunately, though, the second round took, and the two welcomed their second child, a son, in 2016. "We were lucky. I always say, Charley was, like, the last egg out. He really was. And we're so blessed," Guthrie said.

While Guthrie is overjoyed to be a parent, having children much later than most women do has come with its own unique challenges. "Sometimes I wonder, on a Saturday afternoon when I'm really tired, 'Do younger parents feel this way?'" Guthrie said in an interview with Good Housekeeping. The host reminds herself, though, that all parents are tired, and overall she's happy to be a bit older as she believes her children have gotten the best version of her. "The peace and calmness that comes with age is a great thing for kids to see in action," Guthrie said.

In 2017, NBC went through a major scandal when Matt Lauer was fired from his position after being accused by multiple colleagues of sexual misconduct. While everyone at NBC struggled with the news, Savannah Guthrie was reportedly the most upset. "She's not herself. She's visibly shaken," a source told Entertainment Tonight at the time. "She is doing her best to stay upbeat and jolly on-air." Guthrie and Lauer had worked together at NBC for years, and the two were close friends. Guthrie, along with Hoda Kotb, broke the news on "Today" and Guthrie expressed her sorrow on air. "I'm heartbroken for Matt. He is my dear, dear friend and my partner, and he is beloved by many, many people here," Guthrie said, noting her devastation for the victims, too. "We are grappling with a dilemma that so many people have faced these past few weeks: how do you reconcile your love for someone with the revelation that they have behaved badly? And I don't know the answer to that."

Guthrie's relationship with Lauer seems to have suffered since his firing. In 2018, the TV host shared that she had been keeping in touch with Lauer via text, and the following year, Guthrie clarified her stance on Lauer's behavior after more details were revealed about his misconduct. "I feel like we owe it to our viewers to pause for a moment. This is shocking and appalling and I don't even know what to say about it," Guthrie said on air about the news, as reported by The Wrap. "We are disgusted to our core."

Having children is all fun and games until one causes some serious health issues. In 2019, when Savannah Guthrie's youngest child, Charley, was 2 years old, he and his mother were playing together. Charley threw a toy train at Guthrie, and it hit her in the eye. The incident tore Guthrie's retina, and just a day later she lost vision in her right eye. The TV host missed work for a while because of the vision loss and had to rest to avoid causing any further damage. Guthrie had to undergo multiple laser procedures to treat the issue. "They're essentially trying to weld back this tear in the retina very carefully, and really trying hard to avoid the retina detaching and avoid having to do a major surgery," Guthrie shared with "Today" at the time.

In addition to having to lay low physically, Guthrie had to monitor her words so her son wouldn't feel bad about what he inadvertently did to his mother. "He's 2, so he doesn't really know what he did, and of course I wouldn't want to make him feel bad about it,” Guthrie said. "I was FaceTiming with my mom to tell her, and he came running in and said, 'I did it! I did it!' He was very proud of himself." In the end, Guthrie's retina healed and her vision was restored. The TV host hoped she would heal in time to host the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC that year, and she indeed was healthy enough to do so.

The year 2020 brought with it major uncertainty across the world thanks to the introduction of the COVID-19 virus. Each industry handled the global health crisis differently, but broadcasters had an especially unique challenge as they were expected to continue delivering the news even amid the unprecedented times. For many of the hosts of "Today," that meant rigging a remote studio and getting on live television from wherever they were stationed. Some anchors did return to studio, but others stayed home, including the ones who contracted COVID. 

Savannah Guthrie managed to get through all of 2020 and 2021 without contracting the deadly virus, but she started 2022 by leaving work early after testing positive. "We're trading places. I'm working from home. You're back in the studio. You have a negative test for Covid. I just tested positive for Covid, so here we go," Guthrie shared on "Today" from home.

Guthrie didn't come down with COVID just that once. Later in 2022, she tested positive for the virus a second time, and she contracted COVID again in 2023. While Guthrie never cited any extreme symptoms, the TV host does have some chronic health issues, which could have made her more susceptible to the disease and could have made fighting it more difficult. In the end, having COVID might've been a blessing for Guthrie, though, as it allowed her to take some much-needed rest. "She doesn't miss a day," Hoda Kotb said on "Today" while checking in with Guthrie during her second bout with COVID. "When she takes a day off, it's like a huge thing, so you actually are forced into this rest, so we're glad," Kotb added.

As noted, Savannah Guthrie suffers from some chronic health issues. In 2023, the TV host shared that she had been diagnosed with laryngopharyngeal reflux, or LPR. "My voice has been getting hoarser and hoarser, and I thought it was old age. I didn't know," Guthrie said on an episode of "Today" while discussing the condition with Hoda Kotb, Sheinelle Jones, and Dr. Tara Narula. Guthrie was reassured by Dr. Narula that she wasn't alone in not knowing she had LPR — so many people go without receiving a diagnosis of the condition that it's sometimes called silent reflux. "You may think, 'Oh, I have asthma, I have seasonal allergies, or I have a cold,'" Dr. Narula said. "If you go to your ENT — ear, nose, and throat doctor — and they hear this hallmark or consolation of symptoms, to them, the light bulb goes off."

Luckily for Guthrie, Dr. Narula had plenty of tips for the television host on how to mitigate symptoms of LPR. The medical professional suggested waiting a few hours between eating and lying down, elevating the head while lying down, and staying away from alcohol and foods that are acidic. Unfortunately, Guthrie wasn't sold on the tips, though. "I don't want to do it. Doc says no caffeine, no alcohol, no chocolate, no fatty foods, no tomatoes, no limes in my cocktail — why am I even alive at this point!? I'll take the hoarse voice," she said, half serious. One tip did appeal to Guthrie, though — wearing baggy clothing.

Savannah Guthrie is in an industry where turnover is typical — many people do not last for years on end in broadcast journalism. However, Guthrie is at the top of her field, and those who become hosts for NBC usually remain in their posts for quite some time. Such was the case for the stunning Hoda Kotb, a former NBC anchor who was co-host of "Today" for nearly two decades, and had been in her position since before Guthrie joined. 

In 2024, Kotb announced that she was leaving NBC, and Guthrie was saddened by the news. "When it happened, of course I was happy for her because I think it's so courageous and bold and amazing and this mode of confidence in herself and her bright future that she's writing, and she's writing it," Guthrie told People of her reaction to the news. "And of course I'm also sad because I love her so much and if I had it my way, we'd be together forever." Guthrie also shared that while she was shocked to hear the initial announcement, she wasn't particularly surprised because of conversations they'd had in the past.

When it came time to officially say goodbye to Kotb, Guthrie shared a touching tribute to her longtime co-worker and friend. "Hoda's everyone's sister, and she's like a sister to me," Guthrie said on "Today." "She's so special, it's almost beyond description."

Since contracting COVID-19, Savannah Guthrie has had a string of health issues. In 2025, the television host caught norovirus, the most common cause of vomiting and diarrhea in the United States. Guthrie was turned on to her health issues early thanks to her Oura ring, a piece of jewelry that provides wearers with insights into their health. She shared a screenshot of her Oura assessment on her Instagram story and added, "Then succumbed to the norovirus blazing through my house," as reported by Hello!

Making Guthrie's illness worse, the NBC host had to miss some work to heal. When she returned to her post, she shared with the audience, "It blazed through the house, but it was a quick mover. We're all better." Guthrie and her co-host were able to joke about the situation, too, with Craig Melvin saying, "I know what you're thinking, that after three days of Craig she decided to bail," as reported by People.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).