Savannah Guthrie says her mom urged her to take first job — before Nancy, 84, went missing

Savannah Guthrie recalled on NBC’s Today in 2022 that her mother Nancy gave her “permission” to leave home for her first news job — a selfless act she pointed to as key to her career — weeks before Nancy, 84, was reported missing in Arizona. Nancy was last seen at her Catalina Foothills home around 9:30 p.m.

on Saturday, Jan. 31 and was reported missing the next day, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Office. Speaking with co-host Jenna Bush Hager on the 2022 morning show, Guthrie said her father died as she entered her senior year of high school, and she lived at home through college because the family couldn’t afford a dorm and she and her sister felt they should stay with their mother.

Guthrie said Nancy pushed her to move to Butte, Montana for her first job at age 21, telling her, “If you can’t leave me, then I didn’t do my job right, Savannah.” Guthrie said the decision was difficult but that Nancy’s encouragement was motivated by wanting her daughter to pursue her dreams.

She has cited the lesson — that parents should help children become self-sufficient rather than keep them dependent — as shaping how she raises her own two children, she told Today. Authorities say homicide detectives have joined the search for Nancy, who has been described as “not of good physical health” and a “vulnerable adult.” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nano said investigators have “pretty much thrown everything at this as we can” and voiced “grave concern” for her wellbeing.

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