Savannah Guthrie clearly adores her two children, Vale and Charley, and yet even she needs a break from parenting on occasion. The Today star shares the 11-year-old and the eight-year-old with her husband, Michael Feldman, whom she tied the knot with in 2014. Savannah shared insight into her family's summer adventures while co-hosting Jenna & Friends on Monday, and made a surprising confession about taking a break from parenting while her kids were away for three weeks at camp.
Savannah's confession
"You had a free summer," Savannah's co-star, Jenna Bush Hager, said on the show. "Well, a part of it. We did something that hasn't happened in 11 years," the anchor replied. "Both of our kids went to sleep-away camp for three weeks. No kids, no nothing. It was amazing and so quiet."
"At first, we were like, 'Should we go out to dinner? Should we do this or that?'" she continued. "And we did that for a couple of days. And then we started getting in bed at 6:30 to watch TV and read." She added that it reminded the couple of when they first started dating. "We had no kids, and on a Saturday you'd wake up and be like, 'What should we do today?'" the 53-year-old said.
Savannah explained that Vale and Charley were at camps very close to each other, and would see each other once a week. Despite hoping that it would "transform their relationship", the pair continued to fight as siblings do. "But they love each other," she said.
Together again
Savannah took fans along for the ride when she was reunited with her children after their time at camp back in August, with the journalist sharing photos of herself tightly hugging the pair. "We back," she captioned the snaps, which also featured her planting a kiss on Vale's cheek and smiling alongside Charley as he held his camp pillow.
She later poked fun at her kids' hygiene habits, posting a photo of a retainer that was in need of sanitization. "There is no greater act of motherly love than touching the post-camp retainer," she wrote, alongside a vomit emoji.
Despite her jokes, Savannah is a doting mother and endured fertility issues for years before welcoming Vale and Charley. "I knew it was the winning lottery ticket to have one child – I was 42 when I had [Vale]. So I never dreamed that I would have two," she told Health in 2019. "But with Charley, I did do IVF. So I would say Vale was a miracle, and Charley was a medical miracle."
Sibling rivalry
Savannah's children weren't the only ones who enjoyed time away from their parents over the summer; Jenna's two daughters, Mila, 12, and Poppy, 10, were also sent to sleepaway camp, while Hal, her six-year-old son, stayed at home with her and her husband, Henry Hager.
"He loved being an only child," she said on the show. "And he actually was so well-behaved, and I told my girls that. I was like, 'Hal has gone through a major transformation without you guys here. He was excellent.' And Mila goes, 'Maybe we're the problem.' I didn't realize it until she said it. Sometimes our kids just lead us in the right direction."