While Today viewers are very familiar with co-host Savannah Guthrie’s blissful marriage to Michael Feldman, she just made rare comments about her first husband to former colleague Hoda Kotb, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Guthrie opened up about her marriage to BBC journalist Mark Orchard during an episode of Kotb’s new online series, Joy Rides. Kotb joined the longtime Today personality at 4:15 a.m. for her chauffeured drive from her apartment to 30 Rock, where the Jump and Find Joy author pressed her still-sleepy pal about a series of topics.
‘I Was Sad About It’
A makeup-free and sleepy Savannah Guthrie opened up about how her first marriage failed.
The segment was taped ahead of Guthrie undergoing surgery to remove nodes and polyps from her vocal cords.
Kotb asked her former co-host: “What was the most difficult time in your life, and what did you learn from it?”
Makeup-free Guthrie replied: “When I was getting separated and divorced from my first husband. I was in my 30s. I felt old, but I now see that I was pretty young, and I was sad about it.”
“And I was also starting a new job. Yes, at a place called NBC, and trying really hard to make my way and make my little dream come true while other dreams were falling apart,” the mom of two said about how she got her big break at NBC News in 2007 as a legal analyst and correspondent as her marriage began to falter.
The following year, Guthrie was promoted to White House correspondent as her marriage to Orchard fell apart.
They divorced in 2009 after four years together.
‘I Felt Like a Failure’
Savannah Guthrie’s relationship with God was strengthened during her divorce.
Guthrie explained how the breakdown of her marriage ended up helping her grow closer to God and deepen her faith.
“It made me have to really dig deep, and I felt like a failure…And I think that’s when, actually, my faith became even more solidified because I realized I didn’t have to be perfect to be loved by God,” she declared.
“I didn’t even have to be close because I was definitely a failure. And I really felt loved and carried by God. And that was like such an important integral moment of life.”
It Took Savannah Guthrie ‘Years to Recover’ From Failed First Marriage
Savannah Guthrie called her divorce ‘horrible and sad.’
It’s incredibly rare for Guthrie to open up about her first marriage, as she didn’t even bring it up in her first book, 2024’s Mostly What God Does, where she reflected on her life and faith.
The former lawyer shut down questions about it during a July 2025 appearance on Monica Lewinsky’s Reclaimingpodcast.
“It was horrible and sad, and it broke my heart. It took me years to recover,” Guthrie confessed about her failed marriage to Orchard while seemingly putting up walls.
She added, “I’m not blaming anyone, but I don’t really want to get into it.”
Savannah Guthrie Reveals Her ‘Most Exquisite Feeling of Joy’
Savannah Guthrie is now a happily married mother of two.
Guthrie found love again with political strategist Michael Feldman.
They met in 2008 at his 40th birthday party and began dating the following year after her divorce from Orchard was finalized.
Guthrie stunned fans in March 2014 when she announced to Today viewers that she and Feldman wed the weekend prior in her adopted home state of Arizona and that the couple was also expecting their first child.
She gave birth to daughter Vale in August 2014, and the duo added to their family with the birth of son Charley in December 2016.
Later in the episode of Joy Rides, Kotb asked Guthrie, “When were you your happiest?”
“I will say, like, the most exquisite feeling of joy I’ve ever felt is when those babies were born. When I laid eyes on those babies, and I heard them cry, and I saw them, and I held them, it was like an all-encompassing,” she revealed about becoming a mom.
“I think that for sure, because it was everything I ever wanted. That’s all I ever really wanted,” Guthrie gushed about parenthood.
