‘Today’ Host Savannah Guthrie to Have Second Eye Surgery Following Complications From Her First

Today Show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie will need a second eye surgery after experiencing complications from her first. She previously underwent eye surgery in December 2019 after her 3-year-old son Charley threw a toy truck at her face. Guthrie was absent from the NBC morning show for a month and even shared a detailed photo of the injury in January.

Guthrie and Today Show co-anchor Hoda Kotb both appeared on Thursday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where Guthrie provided an update on her eye, reports Entertainment Tonight. “It’s getting better, the surgery worked,” the journalist said. “But a lot of people have complications, I did too, so I have to have cataract surgery.” Although it is a common procedure and one that could be done at an ophthalmologist’s office, Guthrie said she cannot get the surgery until after the coronavirus pandemic passes. “It’s kind of funny, kind of not,” she told DeGeneres. “I see but I see blurry spots.”

Guthrie and her family have been living at their home in Upstate New York while still hosting the Today Show with Kotb remotely. Guthrie said the two miss working together, especially since they are such close friends outside the show. “I think it’s just a matter of when the city’s back open,” she said. “My kids, it’s like, we have an apartment in the city. Up until now, they couldn’t have even gone to the park. They’re just going between two and three rooms… I think we’re really just taking it week by week, maybe even day by day.”

This was not the first time Guthrie opened up about needing more surgery. Back in April, she told PEOPLE she would need “a couple of follow-up surgeries.” She called the additional procedures “unfortunate but not unexpected” and said she could not schedule the surgeries due to the pandemic. “I don’t think my eye will ever be the way it once was, but I think it will be much improved,” she told the magazine.

Guthrie suffered the eye injury back in November when she suddenly missed a Today Show episode. She called in to explain that Charley, then 2, threw a toy train at her, which tore her retina. She temporarily lost vision in her right eye. She underwent surgery in December and was not back on Today until the first week of January.

After she returned to the show, Guthrie shared detailed images of the injury and her repaired eye. “The first pic is my retina ‘before’ – with a massive tear… that’s that big dark spot in the middle of the pic,” Guthrie wrote. “The next one is my retina “after” – smooth as butter and reattached like new like the day I was born! I’m so grateful to the careful doctors who operated on me and very hopeful about getting most of my vision back eventually!!”