‘Today’ Anchor Savannah Guthrie Tears up Hearing Her ‘New’ Voice for First Time After Vocal Surgery

Savannah Guthrie couldn’t help but get emotional as she heard her “new” voice for the first time since undergoing vocal cord surgery.

The TODAY co-anchor, 54, took viewers on her vocal journey with her in a segment that aired on the NBC morning show Friday, revealing that she first sought medical insight into her voice after it continued to drop and become “scratchier” over the years, making it tough to even get through a show.

When voice specialist Dr. Peak Woo assessed Guthrie, he found a “hemorrhagic polyp,” or ruptured blood vessel, on one side of her vocal cords, and a “vocal nodule” caused by overuse on the other.

Woo suggested Guthrie undergo microlaryngeal surgery to remove the growths, and the journalist underwent the procedure at the start of the year. The “toughest assignment,” however, was staying completely “silent” during her recovery while on mandatory vocal rest.

A week after undergoing her surgery, Guthrie took viewers to her first post-operative appointment at Woo’s office, where he inserted a small camera up her nose to see how her vocal cords were healing. It was then that Woo encouraged Guthrie to speak for the first time and to “say what you say every morning.”

“Good morning, today is Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026,” Guthrie said. “I am using my voice for the first time and it sounds good — I could cry.” Hugging the doctor in an emotional moment, Guthrie said in her voiceover that she was “speechless” once again due to how grateful she was to have her voice back.

Woo explained that recovering someone’s voice can be “emotional,” as “the voice is really an expression of your soul and when you suddenly restore it and see that it’s possible, then it can be emotional.”

Guthrie wasn’t totally out of the woods yet, however, as she had to get her voice “back in shape” with vocal therapy to help preserve and strengthen it moving forward.

Guthrie, who returned to TODAY on Monday after her medical hiatus, explained to her co-anchors that it was “hard at first” to stay totally silent while recovering. “You had to get the hang of silence and solitude and being alone with yourself,” she said. “It actually can be kind of terrifying, but I found it to be a beautiful moment— spiritual moment.”

Asked if she was back to 100% vocally yet, Guthrie said she was, but pointed out that she had plans to be “more careful” with her voice in the future, including vocal rest periods after her TODAY broadcasts and continued vocal therapy.