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Savannah Guthrie Shares Why Her Kids Are Not Allowed to Have Phones

Savannah Guthrie exclusively shared with E! News insight into her conversations about social media and smartphones with kids Vale, 11, and Charley, 8.

By Gabrielle Chung, Kristina Behr Oct 10, 2025 8:46 PM
| Updated Oct 10, 2025 8:48 PM
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Watch: Savannah Guthrie Shares Why Her Kids Are Not Allowed to Have Phones

Savannah Guthrie wants her kids to soak up every second of their childhood.

That's why the Today host and her husband Michael Feldman have not given daughter Vale, 11, and son Charley, 8, their own cell phones just yet.

"My conversation about social media is, 'No,'" Savannah told E! News during Oct. 9's World Mental Health Day Gala hosted by Project Healthy Minds in New York City. "And my conversation about a smartphone is, 'No.'"

While 53-year-old acknowledged that her children "want all of that stuff," she's hoping to "hold off as long as possible" so they'll live in the moment.

For now, Savannah allows Vale to borrow her phone when the tween wants to talk to her friends. And as the mom of two has previously explained, she did make Vale sign a smartphone "contract" beforehand.

Still, Savannah and her kids have a very open line of communication.

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Savannah Guthrie Teases Today's Future After Hoda Kotb's Departure

"We do talk about our feelings," she noted to E!. "All feelings are welcome, all behavior is not. You can always share how you're feeling in this house. We're not afraid of feelings."

Savannah continued, "I tell my kids all the time, 'No matter how you're feeling, these moods come and you feel sad. It's like a weather system coming in. It's just like a storm and it takes up the whole sky. But weather systems come in and they go."

Instagram/Michael Feldman

It's a sentiment Savannah also shares with her coworkers. In fact, she said hearing about co-anchor Carson Daly's personal struggles with anxiety on-air was "the moment" she realized how important it was to speak openly about mental health.

"That was a healing conversation," she recalled of The Voice host, who also attended the gala. "It showed the way for a lot of people to feel less alone."

Savannah added, "Carson is my dear friend. I work with him every day, but he's like a brother to me."

For more on the Today show family, read on.

(E! and Today are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

Sheinelle Jones

The cohost of the third hour of Today shares son Kayin as well as twins Uche and Clara with her late husband Uche Ojeh, who passed away in May 2025 after a courageous battle with brain cancer. 

“With all three of my children, I try to show them that they're ALL a team, and they have to take care of each other," Sheinelle wrote in a 2015 essay for Today. “At the same time, I'm learning that they each like to know they're special on their own."

Craig Melvin

Three years after the anchor married fellow broadcaster Lindsay Czarniak in 2011, he earned his most cherished title yet: father. 

And now, he seizes every opportunity to gush about their son Delano and daughter Sybil.

"When I wake up in the morning," Melvin said to his son during a May 2024 episode of Today, "part of the reason I work so hard is for you and your sister."

Jenna Bush Hager

The Today with Jenna & Friends cohost and her husband Henry Hager are proud parents to kids Mila, Poppy and Hal

As she put it during a March 2025 episode of the morning show, “I’m pretty sure I’ve come to terms that three, even though it’s an imperfect number, it’s the perfect number for our household."

Hoda Kotb

"Another Halloween in the books," wrote the former host as she celebrated the day with her daughter Haley Joy

She is also mom to daughter Hope Catherine.

Lester Holt

The former NBC Nightly News anchor shares sons Stefan Holt and Cameron Holt with his wife Carol Hagen

But more recently, he became a proud "granddude" to three grandchildren: Henry, Samuel and James.

“When my daughter-in-law was pregnant with her first baby ... she said, ‘Well, what do you guys want to be called?’" Holt said on The Kelly Clarkson Show in 2021. "I said, ‘I think I want to be ‘Granddude’ because ‘grand,’ it bows to the fact that I’m older. But ‘dude’ says, ‘I still got a little bit. I still got a little,’ you know?"

 

Carson Daly

In 2020, the anchor and his wife Siri Pinter welcomed their fourth child, Goldie. The little one joined the couple's older kids Jackson, Etta and London.

 

Kathie Lee

Hoda's former cohost is a loving mommy to her own two children, Cassidy Gifford and Cody Gifford, with her late husband Frank Gifford.

Savannah Guthrie

The TV personality is a mom to two little ones, Vale Guthrie Feldman and Charles "Charley" Max Feldman, with her husband Mike Feldman

Al Roker

The anchor and his wife Deborah Roberts are parents to Leila Roker and Nicholas Albert Roker.

Willie Geist

The anchor of Sunday Today has been married to his wife Christina Geist since 2003. They're parents to two children, George William Geist and Lucie Joy Geist.

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