When she was just 16 years old, Savannah Guthrie's father died of a heart attack. Up until that time, her mother Nancy had been a stay-at-home mom. Suddenly thrust into the harsh reality of supporting and raising three kids on her own, Guthrie's mother was able to get a job working in public relations for the University of Arizona where the Today host and her sister, Annie, were luckily able to attend tuition-free (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Dubbed by Refinery29 as, "an unlikely role model for the laidback dreamers," Guthrie admitted to the outlet that she wasn't much of an overachiever in life until she had to be. Explaining, "I wasn't much of a go-getter in my younger years. In high school, I was kind of a slacker. It was only in college when I started taking journalism classes that the fire was lit, and I really wanted to accomplish things. Before that, I was happy to hang out with my friends and listen to grunge music and wear my chunky heels."
Reflecting on that difficult time of her life in an open-letter essay to her mother that she wrote for Good Housekeeping in 2017, Guthrie shared, "I think about when Dad passed away so suddenly ... I remember how we clung to each other for dear life in the years that followed. Your strength and selflessness in the face of that shock amazes me to this day."
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