Savannah Guthrie recalls being 'the last to know' she was replacing Ann Curry on “Today”: 'I was terrified'

Savannah Guthrie is reflecting on the unusual circumstances of her promotion.

The Today host, who was promoted from co-anchoring the 9 a.m. slot to the flagship 7 a.m. slot in 2012, recalled the tumultuous culture at the show around the time she replaced Ann Curry. "I came at a time of a lot of controversy for the show, and it wasn’t, I don't think, a happy occasion, really — for anyone, including me," Guthrie said in an interview with Parade.

The host said that she was convinced her time on Today would quickly come to an end, and that she was kept in the dark about her promotion until the last minute. "I was as terrified as I could possibly be because the bosses at the time had made a decision, and I quite literally was the last to know, and I was so afraid, and I was pretty sure that I wouldn't last," Guthrie remembered.

The journalist also said that she'd already achieved so much in her yearlong stint in the 9 a.m. slot that she didn't expect her career to get any better. "At that point, I had come this far, and I was the anchor of the 9:00 on the Today show, and had been the legal correspondent, and been a White House correspondent, and all my dreams had already come true,” Guthrie explained. “It didn't need to get any better than that. I already knew that I was the luckiest girl from Tuscon, Ariz., to ever show up."

Related: Hoda Kotb fights tears on Today after opening Savannah Guthrie's Secret Santa gift: 'It's too much'

Even when Guthrie received the news of her promotion, she still didn't think she'd be able to hold the new position for long. "When they came and it was this controversy in this time, you know, when I was offered the job, I was in tears," she said. "And it wasn't because I didn't dream of this job like everyone else does. It was because I was sure that it wouldn't last and that I'd be thrown by the wayside within a few weeks or months."

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Guthrie's ascension occurred the day after Curry announced her unceremonious departure from Today in June 2012. Five years later, Matt Lauer, who served as co-host alongside both Curry and Guthrie, was fired from the show following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Related: Former Today anchor Matt Lauer makes rare appearance at Don Lemon’s wedding to Tim Malone

"I can tell you that I’m not surprised by the allegations," Curry said in an interview with CBS This Morning in 2018. "I would be surprised if many women [at Today] didn’t understand there was a climate of verbal harassment that existed. It would be surprising if somebody didn’t see that. It was verbal sexual harassment."

Related: Richard Gere flips off Savannah Guthrie on Today one day after Cher dropped the F-bomb: 'I'm bleeping you!'

Guthrie said that she's thrilled to have lasted as long as she has on Today. "I'm so happy that I survived and that I'm still here," she told Parade. "12 years, 13 years later, I would've not believed it, and it's such a blessing."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly