MS NOW host Stephanie Ruhle is proud of her friend and former colleague Savannah Guthrie for pushing through an uncertain time.
“Savannah is one of the most extraordinary people I’ve ever known,” Ruhle, 59, exclusively shared with Luxury Handbag Shopping while attending the Time100 Gala in New York City on Thursday, April 23. “To watch Savannah come back to the Today show, to sit there bringing NBC together, connecting with the audience again, to think about what she is going through, it breaks your heart every day. Every morning, when I turn [her] on, I’m more inspired.”
Savannah, 54, returned to coanchor NBC’s morning show on April 6 after taking more than two months off to focus on family after her mom, Nancy Guthrie, was reported missing in Tucson, Arizona.
Police and the FBI continue investigating the case, with the Guthrie family offering a $1 million reward for the recovery of Nancy, 84.
After watching Savannah return to work, Ruhle dedicated a portion of her show, The 11th Hour, to her former colleague.
“[I wanted to send] any positive energy that she could possibly feel in the universe,” Ruhle explained to Us about the on-air moment. “I know when I’m on at 11 at night, she’s definitely asleep. But even if she can feel one ounce of that love going across the airwaves, that means something.”
During an emotional interview with Today colleague Hoda Kotb, Savannah opened up about her decision to return to work amid her mom’s disappearance.
“When I look at the Today show, it’s the answer to all of my dreams, actually better than my dreams,” Savannah shared in an interview that aired on March 27. “It’s hard to imagine doing it because it’s such a place of joy and lightness. 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. I want to smile, and when I do, it will be real. And my joy will be my protest. My joy will be my answer.”
She added, “Being there is joyful. And when it’s not, I’ll say 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.”
During the Time100 Gala, which celebrates the magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2026, stars like Sterling K. Brown, Ethan Hawke, Zoe Saldana, Nikki Glaser and Dakota Johnson were honored for their work.
Ruhle wanted to attend the star-studded event to experience a bit of positive news.
“These are the people making the world better, smarter and in a lot of cases, more beautiful,” Ruhle shared. “I work in the news business. There’s a lot of bad news. Tonight is about great news.”
The 11th Hour With Stephanie Ruhle airs on MS NOW weeknights at 11 p.m. ET. Anyone with information on Nancy’s disappearance is urged to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit http://tips.fbi.gov.
