Savannah Guthrie to Exit ‘Today’ Show for Several Weeks

Savannah Guthrie will be taking “a couple of weeks” off from the TODAY show as she undergoes vocal cord surgery.

The NBC anchor, 53, announced on Friday that she will be undergoing a procedure to remove nodules and a polyp from her vocal cords in the new year and will be required to go on extended vocal rest in order to recover.

“Some of you have noticed that my voice has been very scratchy and started to crack a little bit,” Guthrie shared on Friday’s episode. “Well, I have found out what it is. I have vocal nodules and I also have a polyp. It’s not a big, big deal, but I am going to have to have a surgery in the new year and be off for a couple of weeks, so this is my last day for a little while.”

Guthrie said that while some TODAY viewers might have thought she had the “world’s longest head cold,” she was excited to have finally found the root of her vocal issues. “This has been going on for years, honestly, so to have a solution,” she explained.

On the other hand, Guthrie will have to be “totally silent” for weeks as part of her recovery, which she joked was “Christmas coming early for my family.”

It was then that TODAY co-host Sheinelle Jones revealed that she also underwent the same surgery, assuring Guthrie that the silent recovery has a “silver lining” to it.

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“The silver lining is you have permission to be still,” she explained. “The house gets quiet, the kids are gonna want to help you out.”

As a pre-surgical present, Jones then handed Guthrie the whiteboard she used to communicate as she recovered. “A lot of the greats have done it, maybe you’ll come out singing like, I don’t know, Céline Dion,” she joked.

“Well, you know, it’s really funny, I used to sing,” Guthrie responded. “Then I couldn’t sing anymore and then I couldn’t speak anymore,” joking, “So who knows, guys, the tour is happening in 2026.”