Originally published on 2/21/26

As the search for Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, continues, many of her Today show cast members have begun to speak out about their relationship with the TV journalist. This includes Jenna Bush Hager, who has not only been there for Savannah through this difficult time but through a lot of other challenging moments prior to this as well. We look into their super sweet friendship below.

A look at how Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager met 

Savannah, 54, and Bush Hager, 44, first crossed paths back in 2008 at the latter’s wedding to Henry Hager.

Savannah was working as an NBC correspondent at the time and was on assignment covering the wedding for the news network. 

“Don’t feel bad if you weren’t invited,” Savannah joked at the time. “Only about 200 of the Bushes’ close friends and family are attending the wedding of Jenna and her longtime boyfriend, Henry Hager.”

Despite that, the two didn’t become close until 2012, when Savannah was named as the Today show co-anchor alongside Matt Lauer. At the time, Bush Hager was working as a correspondent and revealed in 2017 that she “knew nothing about Savannah Guthrie before she sat down next to me in the makeup chair five years ago. I knew nothing about her, even though we had overlapped in Washington, D.C. for several years, knew some of the same people and had even been in the same room at the same time.” 

“But after five years working alongside her—and living next to her (yes, we are next-door neighbors in New York City), I now know a lot about Savannah,” Hager continued. “I know Savannah leads with the heart. She lights up when she’s with her kids. She loves her husband Mike, adores her mom, sister and brother and she loves her friends.” 

Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager’s sweet family bond revealed 

When Savannah gave birth to her daughter, Val, in August 2014—who, funnily enough, shares a birthday with Bush Hager’s daughter Poppy—the journalist revealed that Bush Hager would be serving as the child’s godmother. 

“I know she knows what it means to me. I also wanted to just say to Jenna, ‘You are one of my closest friends, and I am handing you my heart because my little girl is my heart,’” Savannah said at the time. 

Then, in August 2019, Bush Hager gave birth to her third child, Henry Harold “Hal” Hager, and a year later revealed that Savannah was his godmother. 

“It made perfect sense that the person that I speak to faith most about would be in his life to help shape him in that way,” Bush Hager said. 

Now, the two go on vacations together all the time, are members of the same church and celebrate their children’s birthdays. It’s super sweet and shows just how close the journalists and their daughters really are. 

“I was picking them up from the bus and I overheard [Bush Hager’s daughter] say to Vale, ‘Do you know why we’re best friends, Vale?’” Savannah recalled in 2021. “And Vale said, ‘No, why?’ And she goes, ‘Because God couldn’t handle it if we were sisters.’”

What Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager are doing now

In 2019, Bush Hager was announced as the new Fourth Hour of Today co-host. She also appears alongside Savannah on the first and second hour of Today from time to time. 

Currently, Bush Hager is still on the show and has been very outspoken about how much Nancy’s disappearance is affecting her. 

“We love Nancy. I know her personally,” Bush Hager said on air earlier this month. “We are thinking of our dearest, dearest Savannah and her whole family right now. Our prayers obviously go out to Savannah and the entire family.”

As the search for Nancy continues, Woman’s World joins Savannah and her family in praying for her safe return. Anyone with information is urged to contact either the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or 520-351-4900.

Link to original: https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/celebrities/are-savannah-guthrie-and-jenna-bush-hager-friends