On top of the security breach, the “Today” show anchor’s mother, Nancy, went missing from her Arizona home in February.On top of the security breach, the “Today” show anchor’s mother, Nancy, went missing from her Arizona home in February.
Savannah Guthrie is skipping town just one day after an intruder lunged at co-anchor Craig Melvin at the “Today” show offices earlier this week.
Guthrie and her husband, Michael Feldman, were photographed Friday preparing to leave the Big Apple at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport.
The anchor, 54, kept a low profile in a beige Celine bucket hat, jeans, sneakers and a black sweater for the outing. At one point, she was seen checking her phone, and in another snapshot, she took a sip from a water bottle.
Guthrie, whose elderly mother Nancy went missing in February, found the security breach the day prior “incredibly triggering,” the Daily Mail reports, despite the fact that it took place shortly after she left the building Thursday morning.
“The timing couldn’t have been more heartbreaking,” a source told the outlet Friday. “How much more can one person take?”
“After everything Savannah has endured with her family, this happened just moments after she walked off the set. It hit everyone hard, but it hit differently for her,” they added.
During the incident, the intruder — later identified as Andrew Truelove — stormed the building looking for Al Roker and instead found Melvin. He allegedly hurled a racial slur during the encounter, calling Melvin the N-word, and is now facing a slew of hate crime charges.
“This couldn’t have come at a worse time for her emotionally after everything she’s been through this year,” a second source told the Daily Mail of Guthrie. “Even though she had just left, just knowing it happened at her workplace is enough to shake anyone.”
Guthrie was preparing to step away for “a few weeks” to film the network’s upcoming Wordle game show, prior to the incident and announced her upcoming hiatus the same morning the intruder sent shockwaves through the “Today” studio.
“Everyone is relieved she’s taking the next few weeks off to film another project,” the source claimed to the outlet. “She’ll get some distance from all of this while everyone back here catches their breath.”
The insider added that “nobody would blame Savannah if she decided she needed more time.”
“She’s been carrying an enormous emotional burden, and this was another shock,” they continued. “The feeling inside the show is that everyone wants her to put herself first.”
Though the outlet reported security at the “Today” show had been “beefed up,” and the building was “tightening every loophole,” sources also told the Daily Mail that “Savannah’s personal protection has also been increased.”
One source told the outlet that, “The whole newsroom is protective of Savannah right now. People are worried less about the show and more about her. They just want her to be okay.”
Page Six exclusively reported Thursday that NBC News fired one of the security guards who allegedly allowed the crazed intruder to get into the “Today” show studios.
Melvin and Roker have also since been granted protective orders against Truelove.
A rep for Guthrie did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on Friday evening.
The security incident came as the journalist has continued to navigate the disappearance of her 84-year-old mother, Nancy, who disappeared from her Arizona home following a family outing and was reported missing on Feb. 1.
Guthrie has made multiple social media pleas alongside her siblings, Camron and Annie, for information about the case — even offering a $1 million reward.
Though surveillance images from a camera at Nancy’s front door revealed terrifying images of a masked intruder, the case remains unsolved.
Guthrie returned to the “Today” show on April 6 after a hiatus.
“It is good to be home,” she told viewers at the time in her first episode back since her mother’s disappearance. “Ready or not, let’s do the news.”
