Savannah Guthrie Breaks Down in Tears After Hearing Voice for First Time After Surgery

Savannah Guthrie got emotional while recounting her vocal surgery journey.

The Today co-anchor, 54, shared in a segment aired on Friday, Jan. 23, that she had undergone vocal surgery after her voice became “scratchier,” making it difficult to “get through a sentence” during her hosting duties.

She went to see voice specialist Dr. Peak Woo, who said he found a “hemorrhagic polyp” — or ruptured blood vessel — on one side of her vocal chords and a “vocal nodule” from overuse on the other side. Woo suggested microlaryngeal surgery, a precise surgery performed under general anesthesia to remove the growths.

“We use instruments about the size of an ant’s head to sort of carefully remove the polyp portion, but preserving the tissue surrounding it so it should be able to vibrate,” he told Today.

Guthrie underwent the procedure and then faced what she described as the “toughest assignment” of her life: “staying silent” while she recovered. But she did make sure to share her feelings on a piece of paper, writing, “I’m happy,” after her surgery.

A week later after mandatory vocal rest, she got to try out her newly recovered vocal chords out for the first time in Dr. Woo’s office. She said he applied “numbing spray” to insert a tiny camera up her nose to take a look at how her vocal chords were healing. He then encouraged her to speak for the first time and “say what you say every morning.”

“Good morning, today is Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. I am using my voice for the first time and it sounds [so] good I could cry,” Guthrie said, before she hugged the doctor and broke down into tears. 

“Once again, I was speechless. [I was] so grateful,” she added in a voiceover.

Dr. Woo noted that restoring a person’s voice can be an “emotional” process, saying, “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.”

However, she noted that wasn’t the end of it, as she also had to get her voice “back in shape” with vocal therapy. She said that vocal therapy helps to not only preserve her voice but also strengthen it. 

Guthrie had announced on Dec. 19 that she’d be taking a break from Today. She is slated to return on Monday, Jan. 26.

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“It was hard at first. You had to get the hang of silence and solitude and being alone with yourself. It actually can be kind of terrifying, but I found it to be a beautiful moment— spiritual moment,” she shared. 

When asked if her voice was back to [100%] yet, she said, “yes,” but she plans to be “more careful” with her voice in the future. She said that she plans to implement some vocal rest after doing her Today broadcasts. She also said she was continuing with vocal therapy every day. 

As for her husband, Michael Feldman, and her two kids, Vale and Max, she said they are are ecstatic that she can speak again. “They’re like, ‘Oh great, you can talk again.’ They’re happy about it.”