Gayle King Tears Up Reporting on Savannah Guthrie’s Missing Mother Nancy’s Case: ‘Your Heart Can’t Help but Break for Her’

Gayle King became visibly emotional while delivering an on-air update about Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, who remains missing.

On Thursday, Feb. 5, CBS Mornings opened with a somber scene: King sat alongside her co-hosts, Vladimir Duthiers and Adriana Diaz, as the show aired footage from an Instagram video posted by the Guthrie family the night before.

“We’re starting things a little differently this morning because like you, we’re all waking up this morning with very heavy hearts — praying for our friend and our colleague, Savannah Guthrie,” King, 71, said. “Her mom Nancy is still missing at this hour and late last night, the Guthrie family went public with a very emotional message.”

As she described the family’s appeal, King’s voice wavered and she appeared to fight back tears.

In the video, Guthrie’s siblings spoke about their 84-year-old mother, describing her as a “kind, faithful, loyal, fiercely loving woman.” They also asked whoever may have taken her to provide proof she is still alive, as reports surfaced of an unverified ransom note.

“We are all wishing that Nancy comes home,” King said. “Everyone’s talking about this story. It is an unimaginable situation for the Guthrie family.”

The moment that seemed to hit King hardest came when she referenced Guthrie’s words in the family message.

“Savannah just got to me where she says ‘mommy,’ ” King said. “To hear a grown woman say, ‘Mommy, we’re all looking for you.’ Everybody’s looking for her.”

King called the situation “something that none of us can imagine having to do,” describing it as “so frightening and so disturbing.” As she continued, she added that she couldn’t stop thinking about Guthrie and her siblings making the decision to share the video publicly.

“Your heart can’t help but break for her,” King said.

Though they work at different networks, King and Guthrie have remained friendly over decades in television news, and King emphasized how close Guthrie is to her mother.

“We all know how close she was to her mother,” King said. “You keep seeing those pictures over and over and over again. We’re trying to make sense of something that makes no sense… Help us understand how this is happening, why this is happening and what we can do about it? It’s so, so, so scary to me.”

Timeline of Nancy Guthrie’s Disappearance

Nancy was last seen alive on the evening of Saturday, Jan. 31, according to her daughter Annie. Concern grew the next day, Sunday, Feb. 1, when friends contacted the family after Nancy didn’t show up at church. She was reported missing to authorities later that day.