Savannah Guthrie was initially nervous about joining the hit morning show Today in the midst of a “transitional period.”
“I was waiting to do my live shot on a Supreme Court case on Nightly News, and the president of NBC at the time called me down to his office at 6:00,” Guthrie, 53, said on the Friday, September 12, episode of Jason Kennedy’s eponymous podcast, referring to her 2012 job offer. “The news goes on at 6:30, [and] I thought it was a little odd.”
When Guthrie entered the then-network president’s office, he handed her a news article discussing then-Today anchor Ann Curry’s plans to leave the show.
“[This] was news to me, and then he started talking to me about that job,” she said. “Honestly, I didn’t even know what he was saying. … He was, kind of, talking around it, ‘It’s not an easy situation, but this is good, and any other day we’d be jumping up and down for you.’”
Savannah Guthrie Recalls Replacing Ann Curry on ‘Today’ Amid Show Drama
After Guthrie was formally offered the anchor job, she wasn’t sure whether to accept the position.
“He said, ‘Do you want it?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know,’” Guthrie explained. “Of course I wanted it [because] it was my lifelong dream — actually higher than my lifelong dream, but I also knew that it was a terrible moment for the network and the show. It was the worst possible moment for the network and for the show, and it was a terrible time.”
According to Guthrie, it would be “the worst possible scenario” to start a job on the broadcast amid Curry’s abrupt departure.
“I could see it all clearly [that I’m] going to be a flash in the pan,” she said of her internal monologue at that moment. “I’m going to be that transitional figure that gets kicked to the side. They’re going to throw me in there, I’ll totally be rejected internally and externally, and then I’ll lose everything. I [was] so happy where I am, so I really wasn’t sure. I was terrified.”
Savannah Guthrie’s Ups and Downs Over the Years
Guthrie’s then-boss promised that her career would “be OK,” so she accepted the offer. Guthrie has now been anchoring Today for 13 years, surviving other scandals and abrupt exits, including the controversy surrounding former coanchor Matt Lauer.
“I know now is that I have the best job with the best people, both on camera and behind the scenes,” Guthrie exclusively told Us Weekly in a February cover story. “We’re doing important work and [it’s] fun. Who knows what the future holds? I’m open, but I’m pretty darn happy.”
