Savannah Guthrie's Divorce Was Nastier Than Anyone Realized

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One of the many tragic details about Savannah Guthrie is that the end of her first marriage was a seemingly traumatic experience for the "Today" host. Guthrie crossed paths with her ex-husband, former BBC reporter Mark Orchard, sometime in 2005. Orchard must've made quite an impression on the veteran journalist, since they married in December of that year. But it might've benefited them both if they dated a bit longer before walking down the aisle, since the pair would separate in 2008 and divorce in 2009, just four years after first exchanging wedding vows. Guthrie has been pretty mum about the reasons for their split, which already somewhat hints at how painful the process was.

In the rare times she has referenced her divorce, her cryptic words and reactions only further indicated that her fallout with Orchard might've been worse than anyone could imagine. So much so that she even refused to open up about her first marriage in her memoir "Mostly What God Does," and she wasn't shy about explaining the omission. "I don't want to talk about getting divorced," Guthrie said in a 2025 interview on the "Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky" podcast. She went on to add, "It was horrible and sad, and it broke my heart, and it took me years to recover. And I'm not blaming anyone, but I don't really want to get into it." However, Guthrie's silence on the topic speaks volumes about the divorce. 

What you might not know about Savannah Guthrie is that the longtime television personality thought she wouldn't be able to bounce back from her divorce with Mark Orchard. She didn't just consider it the end of her marriage, but also the end of her parenting dreams. "I was pretty sure that I had lost my opportunity and more or less ruined my life," she told Us Weekly in 2025 about the divorce. "All I ever really wanted was to fall in love, be a mom and have a family. I don't know if it's acceptable to admit these days, but that's kind of how I was. I wanted to do something important and meaningful, but I really wanted a family." 

What Guthrie didn't realize at the time was that she'd find the family she was looking for with Michael Feldman, a political and communications consultant whom she dated shortly after her divorce was finalized in 2009. The two seemingly fell for each other quickly, but Guthrie and Feldman didn't get married as fast as Guthrie and Orchard did. It took five years of dating before they married. Afterward, Guthrie and her husband Feldman had two kids, born in 2014 and 2016. Despite finally realizing the family of her dreams, the heartache Guthrie suffered from her first divorce remains a sensitive topic for the news anchor. It's a reminder that even healed wounds can still leave a permanent mark.