Savannah Guthrie’s Ups and Downs Over the Years: Multiple COVID-19 Diagnoses and More

Credit: Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock

Savannah Guthrie's Ups and Downs Over the Years: Multiple COVID-19 Diagnoses and More

As upbeat as she may seem on TV, Savannah Guthrie knows what it’s like to deal with loss. Alongside her incredible success as the cohost of Today, the television journalist has also had her fair share of hardships throughout the years. In 1988, when she was 16 years old, Guthrie’s dad died of a heart attack. “Not far from mind or heart ever, ever: my dear daddy, Christmas baby like me," the NBC personality reflected while celebrating her 50th birthday in 2021. “He never turned 50 from 49. But tonight I have! So I treasure this gift of life and remember you always.” Guthrie — who shares daughter Vale and son Charley, named after her father, with husband Michael Feldman — has also been candid about the pregnancy loss she suffered after giving birth to Vale in 2014. "I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I just tried to tell myself that it would be OK if it didn’t happen: Maybe it’s not meant for me, and that’s OK because I’ve already been blessed so much in my life. I’m not entitled to have a baby too,” the Australia native — Guthrie was born in Melbourne before being raised in Arizona — told Good Housekeeping in March 2022. “Looking back, that mindset was probably a self-defense mechanism.” [sendtonews type="float" key="yroDIGpvSu-2828181-14453"] After deciding to undergo in-vitro fertilization treatments (IVF) in order to have a second child, Guthrie realized just how much it takes to bring a child into this world. “Going through what we did, it makes you realize that everything has to go just right to have a healthy baby. I really feel for so many women who are struggling and wishing and wondering, 'When’s it gonna be my turn?' I know. And I understand,” she told the magazine. The attorney — before becoming a journalist, Guthrie graduated with her Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 2002 — has also dealt with numerous bouts of COVID-19 since she first tested positive for the coronavirus in January 2022. She was diagnosed with the virus again in May of that year and was forced to leave the Today show early in February 2023 after testing positive mid-show. “Savannah left early, she wasn’t feeling great, so she took a COVID test. It came back positive,” fellow anchor Sheinelle Jones told viewers at the time. “So of course as soon as we found out, she rushed home to rest up. So Savannah, we love you, wishing you a speedy recovery.” Keep scrolling to see Guthrie’s ups and downs through the years:

Credit: Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock

Savannah Guthrie's Ups and Downs Over the Years: Multiple COVID-19 Diagnoses and More

As upbeat as she may seem on TV, Savannah Guthrie knows what it’s like to deal with loss. Alongside her incredible success as the cohost of Today, the television journalist has also had her fair share of hardships throughout the years. In 1988, when she was 16 years old, Guthrie’s dad died of a heart attack. “Not far from mind or heart ever, ever: my dear daddy, Christmas baby like me," the NBC personality reflected while celebrating her 50th birthday in 2021. “He never turned 50 from 49. But tonight I have! So I treasure this gift of life and remember you always.” Guthrie — who shares daughter Vale and son Charley, named after her father, with husband Michael Feldman — has also been candid about the pregnancy loss she suffered after giving birth to Vale in 2014. "I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I just tried to tell myself that it would be OK if it didn’t happen: Maybe it’s not meant for me, and that’s OK because I’ve already been blessed so much in my life. I’m not entitled to have a baby too,” the Australia native — Guthrie was born in Melbourne before being raised in Arizona — told Good Housekeeping in March 2022. “Looking back, that mindset was probably a self-defense mechanism.” [sendtonews type="float" key="yroDIGpvSu-2828181-14453"] After deciding to undergo in-vitro fertilization treatments (IVF) in order to have a second child, Guthrie realized just how much it takes to bring a child into this world. “Going through what we did, it makes you realize that everything has to go just right to have a healthy baby. I really feel for so many women who are struggling and wishing and wondering, 'When’s it gonna be my turn?' I know. And I understand,” she told the magazine. The attorney — before becoming a journalist, Guthrie graduated with her Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 2002 — has also dealt with numerous bouts of COVID-19 since she first tested positive for the coronavirus in January 2022. She was diagnosed with the virus again in May of that year and was forced to leave the Today show early in February 2023 after testing positive mid-show. “Savannah left early, she wasn’t feeling great, so she took a COVID test. It came back positive,” fellow anchor Sheinelle Jones told viewers at the time. “So of course as soon as we found out, she rushed home to rest up. So Savannah, we love you, wishing you a speedy recovery.” Keep scrolling to see Guthrie’s ups and downs through the years:

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1988

Guthrie has often spoken about her late dad, who died in 1988 when she was 16 years old.

“To me, at 16, it felt like a betrayal of everything I’d believed in,” she later recalled in an essay for Guideposts. “How could God let this happen to my dad—a good man who was only in his 40s? How could he do this to our family?”

Credit: Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock

2002

One decade before joining the Today show as a news anchor, Guthrie graduated from Georgetown University Law Center with her Juris Doctor degree.

Credit: Andrew Toth/Starpix/Shutterstock

2005 to 2009

Prior to finding love with Feldman, Guthrie was married to her first husband, Marc Orchard. She and the former BBC journalist divorced four years after they tied the knot.

Credit: Amanda Schwab/Starpix/Shutterstock

2009

"I met a man named Mike Feldman at a party, a political consultant who made me laugh. We fell in love,” Guthrie penned to Guideposts about her late 2009 meet-cute with her now-husband.

Credit: Amanda Schwab/Starpix/Shutterstock

2011

Guthrie officially joined the Today show as part of its third-hour in June 2011. One year later, she was promoted to co-anchor alongside Matt Lauer (who later exited his tenure from the morning show amid sexual harassment allegations).

In 2021, Guthrie gushed about her time on the show with her colleagues. “I can't believe it's been 10 years! I feel so much gratitude."

Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock

2013 to 2014

In 2019, Guthrie revealed on Today that she and Feldman were at a crossroads in their relationship when he ultimately decided to propose while on vacation in Turks and Caicos in 2013. "I was like, 'Sweetie, I love you so much, but if we can't decide [to stay together or break up], then I think we've decided,' " she later recalled. Little did the Georgetown grad know that Feldman had already bought a ring and was about to pop the question.

"That night, the sun was going down, and he was like, 'Let's open that champagne they sent us,' " Guthrie remembered, adding that’s when he asked her to marry him — and she said yes. They wed in March 2014.

Credit: Courtesy of Savannah Guthrie/Instagram

August 2014

Several months after their nuptials, Guthrie gave birth to their first child at 42 years old, she announced on the Today show.

“Every new parent must want to shout their happy news to the world. So lucky we got to do it on @TODAYshow! We are bursting with joy. #Vale … Vale, on the other hand, slept through the whole thing,” she joked via social media after the exciting announcement.

Credit: Courtesy of Savannah Guthrie/Instagram

December 2016

Guthrie and Feldman welcomed their second child, son Charley, in December 2016.

"I would say Vale was a miracle, and Charley was a medical miracle," she told Health magazine in 2019 when discussing how she underwent IVF treatments to bring him into the world.

Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC

January 2022

Guthrie, who received the COVID-19 vaccine, was first diagnosed with the virus at the beginning of 2022. At the time, she had a “little sniffles and not much more than that.”

Credit: TODAY

March 2022

Guthrie revealed that she suffered a pregnancy loss after giving birth to daughter Vale.

"I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I just tried to tell myself that it would be OK if it didn’t happen: Maybe it’s not meant for me, and that’s OK because I’ve already been blessed so much in my life. I’m not entitled to have a baby too. Looking back, that mindset was probably a self-defense mechanism,” Guthrie told Good Housekeeping at the time.

She added: “Going through what we did, it makes you realize that everything has to go just right to have a healthy baby. I really feel for so many women who are struggling and wishing and wondering, 'When’s it gonna be my turn?' I know. And I understand."

Credit: Courtesy of Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb

May 2022

Guthrie once again tested positive for COVID-19 — just in time for Mother’s Day. “So this happened — again!" she captioned wrote via Instagram at the time. “Covid +, air filter on 'turbo' and it will be an isolating Mother's Day for this mama!!!" Fortunately, she added, “I feel fine, just slight cold so far. Thankful to be vaccinated!"

Credit: Nathan Congleton/NBC

February 2023

Guthrie contracted the virus for a third time in early 2023.

“Savannah left early, she wasn’t feeling great, so she took a COVID test. It came back positive,” Jones told Today viewers after her coanchor disappeared during the episode. “So of course as soon as we found out, she rushed home to rest up. So Savannah, we love you, wishing you a speedy recovery.”