Rumors About Savannah Guthrie That Turned Out To Be True

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It's impossible to be a public figure and not deal with pesky rumors — that just comes with the territory. And "Today" host Savannah Guthrie knows this all too well. From speculation that she's feuding with her former co-host Hoda Kotb to scuttlebutt that she was going to leave the hit show following her mother, Nancy Guthrie's, abduction in February 2026, the beloved broadcaster has been the subject of many shocking headlines throughout her career. Rumors, while often just that, sometimes turn out to have some truth behind them, and in Savannah's case, several were surprisingly accurate. After her mom's kidnapping, reports that the family had received ransom notes ran rampant. It turned out that they did exist, but none were verified by authorities to have come from Nancy's abductors, and as of this writing, the Guthries have yet to be reunited with her.

As the search for Nancy continued to yield no results, gossip emerged that Savannah might leave "Today" for good amid all of the heartbreak her family was experiencing. Other reports indicated that she would make a return to TV eventually, which turned out to be true, with the journalist paying her colleagues a visit in March 2026. During Savannah's return, she reassured them, "I have every intention of coming back. I don't know how to come back, but I don't know how not to. You're my family. And I would like to try," per NBC. Somewhat surprisingly, the story about her return to "Today" despite the hardship she was dealing with isn't the only one that's turned out to be true.

Side-by-side pictures of Savannah Guthrie's face transformation prove she's aging like fine wine, which has led to plenty of speculation that the "Today" show host has gotten help from a plastic surgeon. During a 2014 episode of "Today," Guthrie freely admitted that she had tried Botox. "I have done it, I did it in 2009," she confessed, per E! News. "[I got Botox] in my forehead, that's where everyone did it." But the TV personality wasn't a fan of the look, clarifying, "I have never done it again. I'm not saying I wouldn't, though. I would. And I mean, I'm definitely a candidate for Botox."

Guthrie has weathered more plastic surgery rumors over the years too. As she covered King Charles III's coronation, in 2023, rumors ran wild that she had got a little too much Botox ahead of the event, with some netizens taking to social media to comment that she seemed unable to move her face properly — a common side effect of Botox. Given that Guthrie had said she was willing to try the injections again in the future, it is possible that she was sporting some Botox at the royal event. 

Not all of the rumors about the journalist's appearance have turned out to be true, however. In 2025, gossip made the rounds that her perfect-looking teeth were thanks to veneers, so a brave reporter, working for Parade, asked Guthrie directly to fess up on the red carpet, and she was incredibly confused. "What is that, like, braces?" Guthrie asked, clarifying that she had used Invisalign. The journalist explained that braces and veneers are two very different things. Guthrie, wide-eyed, responded, "Okay, I guess, no. No, I don't have veneers. I probably need them. Whatever they are."

Savannah Guthrie's divorce was nastier than anyone realized, but the "Today" show host never really talked about it publicly, which left netizens and the media alike with plenty of room to speculate. Guthrie's first marriage to fellow journalist Mark Orchard didn't last very long — the couple's union was from 2005 to 2009 —and their split, and the reasons behind it, remained a mystery. Guthrie also never disclosed whether it was she or Orchard who initiated the divorce. This, alongside the fact that she didn't seem to want to breathe a word about it, hinted that things had turned really ugly between the two, and unfortunately, this assumption turned out to be correct. 

In 2025, the beloved broadcaster briefly touched on her divorce after being asked about the disclaimer in her book, "Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere," on the "Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky" podcast. Guthrie told her readers throughout its pages that she wasn't about to dish any dirty details about her life, and that included her first marriage and divorce. "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," she explained to Lewinsky. In January 2026, Guthrie discussed her divorce on Hoda Kotb's "Joy Rides," acknowledging that it was an incredibly challenging chapter in her life. "I felt like a failure," she admitted.

One thing about being a regular on a hit show like "Today" is that people get used to your appearance and your voice, so it's only natural that fans noticed something was off with Savannah Guthrie before she announced that she needed vocal cord surgery. Guthrie has dealt with many tragic health issues, and in a clip she shared on Instagram, in December 2025, the journalist addressed the growing speculation that her voice had been sounding a bit strange. "Some of you have noticed that my voice has been very scratchy and started to crack a little bit," Guthrie noted. "Well, I have found out what it is. I have vocal nodules, and now I also have a polyp. It's not a big, big deal, but I am going to have a surgery real early in the new year and be off for a couple of weeks."

Fortunately, it went really well, and she made an appearance on "Today" in January 2026 to reassure fans that she was ready to hit the ground running. After the procedure, Guthrie wasn't allowed to speak for eight days, and even after that, she still had to use her voice sparingly as she healed. The news anchor also had to see a voice therapist. "It's just like going to PT after an injury," she described it on "Today."