Savannah Guthrie, 47, is covering Health Magazine. You don’t hear a lot about Savannah, but she seems super nice, friendly and like a good person, like her Today Show cohost Hoda Kotb. The Today Show has a winning combination with those two and they better not f-k it up. I didn’t realize that Savannah has two little kids aged five, daughter Vale, and two, son Charley. She underwent multiple tries of IVF it was a tough process for her and her son was the last available egg. She really wanted kids with her husband of five years, Michael Feldman. It sounds like she’s exhausted all the time, but she said she really wanted kids and tries to see them as a blessing. She also had some things to say about self esteem that kind of shocked me.
Given your crazy schedule, how do you make time for yourself?
Mom guilt is very real. And I’m the luckiest mom there is, because I get home most days midday. Which means I can pick up my little one from his Montessori day care, we can have lunch together, he goes down for a nap, I go down for a nap, we pick up my daughter from school, and we have the whole afternoon together. My husband’s home early, so we eat dinner together. I put them to bed most nights. But I do feel guilty if I even go do an exercise class. So I actually try to schedule it while my daughter’s in school and my son is napping. But that means a shorter nap for me…and when your job starts at 4 a.m., a nap feels pretty important.Everyone’s day would probably improve if we had nap time.
I feel so much better if I just take a nap. And then I have a big cup of coffee, which is also probably a no-no. This should be a column for Un-Health magazine: I have a big cup of coffee at like 2:00; then I feel great. It gets me through dinner and bedtime and all that stuff.Do you feel anxious if you can’t get in some form of physical exercise?
Not really! I’m not one of those people who loves to exercise. I used to love to run, but I don’t anymore. I feel like my body can’t hack it… I want to exercise because I know it’s good for my mind and for my body. I’m not really berating myself into having some perfect figure because, frankly, I know it’s unattainable for me.For most women, it’s an accomplishment to reach that sort of self-acceptance.
It’s a lifelong struggle for me. I’ve never once felt good about how I looked on the outside. I think all of us women spend so much time not feeling like we measure up. And what a waste of energy. I’m not there yet, but that’s my goal. A lot of us have that mental dialogue where we look in the mirror and we’re like, “Ugh.” And that’s just not healthy. I really think about it with my daughter, because I just don’t want to pass that on to her. It holds us back from joy. We should be happy and proud of our bodies, and proud to be 47 years old and still kickin’! That’s great! Also, I never looked good in a bikini. So I’m not even sad or mourning some past glory. It never existed!
Sometimes I get down on myself over weight gain or things like that but I definitely have felt good about myself and thought “my hair looks nice,” “I look great in this dress” and similar things. How can you go your whole life, especially when your job is on TV, and never feel good about your appearance? Is she just talking about her body and how she’s never felt good about her shape? That’s crazy to me and seems so sad too. Like even if you’re not the size you want to be you can feel good about yourself and how you work it. I do agree with her about naps though. I wake up at 5am and couldn’t get through the day without a nap.
If you've ever felt insecure about your body, @SavannahGuthrie has some important advice. https://t.co/QYZMgwCsUW
— Health (@goodhealth) April 10, 2019
Photos credit: Health and WENN
I am not crazy about her due to how she handled that MAGA kid in the interview, but what did I expect from her really?
On another note, I don’t understand what they did to her hair for the cover.
I don’t love the cover. I feel like they did some weird photoshop to her or something.
The cover is kind of awful. She looks much better in the bottom two photos.
Same. I’ve always found her really likable (even in this interview) but I just can’t after the MAGA Kid interview.
I nap on my telework days. It’s not usually a long nap – maybe 20-30 minutes? just enough to sort of refresh and reset. the only problem is that my body is so used to it, that when I’m in the office and cant nap (I work in a cubicle), I really drag through the afternoons.
I feel the same. I’ve had weight issues since I was a kid and when everyone around you constantly tells you that the way you look is ugly and wrong you are going to internalize it. I’ve come to a point where I’m not constantly ashamed of myself (there are still days) and that is a huge improvement. And it has affected my life in most ways. I’ve come to accept that I will probably end up alone, because my body issues are so severe any kind of intimacy is not really possible now, even if anyone was interested. I’ve tried therapy but so far it hasn’t helped.
I wouldn’t say I feel 100% of how you do, but at least 80% I’m sure. I see so many flaws that sometimes I just wanna hide and cry, and it was always like this.
I feel the same way. I turned 46 yesterday and have struggled with eating disorders and body dysmorphia since I was 18. In high school I had a “friend” who would go into detail about every single flaw she saw in my body. It’s not a great way to live, but I’m getting to that place of acceptance.
Happy belated, my friend. *hugs*
Sigh. We are always our worst critics.
I’ve shared many of your same struggles in terms of my body image. It’s a battle to keep faith in the idea that things will get better and that you’re worthy of being loved. But you will be loved by many different people throughout your life. You’re not alone, even though it may feel like you are.
Don’t ever give up on yourself and if you can, persist with the therapy. It can take a lifetime to get to the point of self-acceptance but you CAN get there.
Also, please remember to practice self-care. Be patient and kind to yourself. It’s not easy when you’re in the depths of self-loathing but it’s an absolutely essential step to facilitate healing from within.
Thank you, Kitten. I always enjoy your insightful posts. It’s one of the reasons I keep coming back to this site ❤
I love your kind words, Kitten!
She’s too hard on herself. I saw her in person recently. She has a great smile and had on a cute outfit. Lovely all around!
I feel like she was a bad choice for Health magazines. I guess I just like people with more oomph. If I want to talk to tired moms who need a nap and don’t like the way they look in a bikini I’ll talk to the other moms at preschool pick up. I enjoy reading articles about women who are middle aged but committed to their fitness and self acceptance. Maybe I’m just feeling grumpy today 🤷🏻♀️ And wanted something more positive to read.
I wonder if the industry she’s in makes a difference. I think actresses are expected to be self-confident (i.e J.Lo) whereas she’s a lawyer who is in broadcast journalism. Her answers are likely to be more unfiltered.
I do find her way less depressing than Kristen Scott Thomas. Yikes. That is the most depressed I have ever felt after reading a celebrity interview. Maybe because Kristen Scott Thomas fits everybody’s ideal of beauty and was still moaning? Some of us never get to experience what Kristen Scott Thomas has in life whereas I think Savanah Guthrie sounds more like a regular person (“yeah, I never got that much attention to begin with, so whatever.”)
Same Savannah, same.
Her line about feeling guilty even for going to an exercise class really resonates. I have two kiddos and work a lot (I’m the breadwinner so I have no choice, but I also am more or less proud of my career. Still. The guilt!).
Finding even 30 minutes for a workout is just pure guilt even though I love working out, like rowing and running and hiking. It feels like I’m stealing time from my kids and husband. Often I only see my baby for 20 minutes in the morning and 20 in the evening and I feel sick about it. So I only exercise at like 4 am or 9 pm. But I’m so freaking tired all the time.
I dunno. Sometimes it feels like being a woman in our culture is impossible.
Time for some coffee and a little less negative attitude haha! Sorry. Maybe I’m just sleep deprived and grumpy.
I’ve always had body issues. Mom used to bribe me over pounds lost, kept off whatever. She was very vain and growing up in that kind of shadow is…I don’t know, it’s hard to describe. Throughout 20s, 30s and 40s my friends gave me plenty of grief about my body dysmorphia, but now that I’m on the back end of menopause (I hope), I’m dealing with it from different angles and mourning all those wasted years when I should’ve been so very thankful for all my attributes. I try different things for hair, skin, body, etc. but I’ve slowed down a lot not hurrying through anything external or internal. I feel more present, engaged and appreciative of positives and negatives actually. It’s hard to admit I took everything about me for granted when I was younger, but I did. But, BUT, when I look back and examine my best memories, I was fully invested in family and friends. I was wholly myself, raw, emotional, crazy, cool and laughed until I cried. That’s who I am, and that doesn’t age.
Growing up I was brainwashed, mostly by my father, with the notion that being fat was an actual sin and no one would love you if you carried extra weight (I was actually a perfectly normal weight kid, looking back at photos).
So I had two turning point moments about my body that have stuck with me and helped me love myself as I am.
The first was on my 21st birthday, when some friends came over to my parent’s house for a birthday dinner, and a Jane Fonda workout program was on TV. Dad said, “some of those girls could stand to lose a few pounds”, and every head in the room snapped around to stare at him. That was the day that I really got it–my father is sick about this subject. Literally sick, literally body dysmorphic and eating disordered. It was like a lightning bolt to my brain. And I didn’t need to chase his belief system or approval about weight anymore, because consider the f**king source.
The second was a few years later, realizing that the other f**king source was a culture and media (and photoshop) that equates non-perfect bodies with moral failure and lack of worth as a person. I’m 60. I have wrinkles. I’m medically overweight. But I have tons of love, respect, worth, style and beauty. I’m awesome.
So, think about where all those messages come from, friends. Consider the f**king source. Do you trust them about anything else? Then why believe what they say about your body and worth?
AMEN!! Perfectly said Vizia!!!
Naps are great. I’m glad more people are understanding that it’s something that can help you feel more awake and productive, rather than something that lazy people do.
I’ve always liked Savannah. She’s clearly super smart, but doesn’t take herself too seriously and is quite funny.
I think she might be talking more about her body than her face. The body seems to be an issue for a lot of people. In my case, I’ve never had a problem with my face but I do fixate on my body because that is what is society is fixated on? If you’ve got a plain face but a great body, nobody seems to care (i.e Gwyneth Paltrow) whereas if you have a stunning face but a less ideal body (ie. Adele), people seem more critical?
I co think I can relate to her notion of not missing what she never have. Whenever people go on and on about all the attention they had when they were 20 (i.e Kristen Scott Thomas) I feel a bit mystified. I keep wondering if I was super-ugly and failed to notice. I never thought too heavily as to whether people paid attention to me or not.
People are nicer to you when you’re younger (going by general commentary) , but I’ve never felt like people are so horrible to me when I’m older either. By and large, people seem to act the….same? But when I read some actress’ answers, I keep wondering if there’s a whole boatload of attention I missed out on when I was very, very young. So I liked the answer where she said she had nothing to miss (although I’ve never thought I disliked my face, despite not considering myself a great beauty).
I always thought that she was the whistle blower for Matt Lauer. He had a type and she fit the bill. The morning she announced his firing she was literally shaking. She’s worked her butt off to get her chair and u remember when she was the girl at the computer they asked random questions to.