Savannah Guthrie on Friday revealed that she’ll be taking some time off from NBC’s “Today” show so she can undergo and recover from vocal cord surgery.
“Some of you have noticed that my voice has been very scratchy and started to crack a little bit,” she told fans. “Well, I have found out what it is. I have vocal nodules, and I also have a polyp.”
“This has been going on for years, honestly,” she added, saying she’s “very excited” to “have a solution.”
Guthrie assured viewers that it’s not “a big, big deal,” but added that she’ll be missing from their screens for a “couple of weeks” while she’s on vocal rest. She explained that she’ll have to be completely silent for a while after the procedure.
“It’s my last day for a little while,” the 53-year-old anchor said. “So I just want to let everyone know, and if you’ve been wondering, do I have the world’s longest head cold? No, I don’t.”
Co-anchor Sheinelle Jones, who underwent a similar procedure in 2020, also offered Guthrie some reassurance.
“The silver lining is you have permission to be still,” she told her. “A lot of the greats have done it, maybe you’ll come out singing like, I don’t know, Celine Dion.”
While her exact return date in unclear, Guthrie expects to make a full recovery in time for NBC and Peacock’s coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. She’s slated to co-host the opening ceremonies, which are scheduled to begin on Feb. 6.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to host the opening ceremony alongside the incomparable Terry Gannon and snowboarding legend Shaun White,” Guthrie said in a statement. “It’s such an honor to celebrate the world’s best athletes and introduce the magic and wonder of the Winter Games and northern Italy to viewers at home.”
