Savannah Guthrie broke down in tears in an interview while considering the possibility that her mother was kidnapped because of her famous daughter.
In her first TV interview since the 84-year-old was reported missing on 1 February, the Today show co-anchor sobbed as she recalled asking her brother Camron if he thought Nancy's kidnapping was her fault.
"He said, 'Well, I'm sorry, sweetie, but yeah, maybe.' But I knew that," Guthrie tearfully told her former co-host Hoda Kotb on Today on Thursday. "I hope not. I mean, we still don't know. Honestly, we don't know anything. So I don't know that it's because she's my mom and somebody thought, 'Oh, that lady has money, we can make a quick buck.' I mean, that would make sense, but we don't know."
Guthrie, 54, added that she has come to terms with that "probably" being the case, but admitted that the thought is "too much to bear".
"To think that I brought this to her bedside, that it's because of me," she said as both she and Kotb broke down in tears. "And I just have to say, I'm so sorry, mommy. I am so sorry. I'm sorry to my sister and my brother and my kids and my nephew and Tommy, my brother-in-law. I'm so sorry. If it is me, I'm so sorry."
Nancy was taken from her home against her will near Tucson, Arizona in the early hours of 1 February. She was reported missing later that day when she didn't show up for Sunday church service.
Savannah revealed that her sister Annie called her to tell her "mom's missing" and they were both "in a panic".
Recalling the scene at Nancy's home, the TV personality shared, "The doors were propped open, there was blood on the front doorstep and the Ring camera had been yanked off. So we were saying, 'This is not OK.'"
The Guthrie family initially thought she might have suffered "some kind of medical episode in the night", but that theory "didn't make any sense" because "her phone was there, her purse was there and all her things".
Nancy has not been seen since 31 January. The Guthries are offering a $1 million (£749,000) reward for information that leads to her recovery.
