Savannah Guthrie has a personal connection to the "#MeToo" movement.
Savannah Guthrie has a personal connection to the "#MeToo" movement.
Guthrie and fellow Today anchor Hoda Kotb sat down with Alyssa Milano and "#MeToo" movement creator Tarana Burke on Tuesday about sharing the title of Time's "Person of the Year" with other women -- such as Taylor Swift, Rose McGowan, Megyn Kelly and Ashley Judd -- for sharing their stories of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Given the subject matter, Guthrie's mind appeared to be on her former co-anchor Matt Lauer, who was fired last Wednesday for "inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace."
"So much has changed," Guthrie told Burke and Milano. "It has touched every industry, obviously, has hit very close to home here with the firing of Matt Lauer."
During the interview, Milano talked about popularizing the #MeToo movement in October when she tweeted, "If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted, write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet." Milano revealed she shared the tweet with her former Charmed co-star, Rose McGowan, on her mind. McGowan has alleged that disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein raped her.
"My friend Rose McGowan had been very hurt, and silenced for a long time, and she was fighting back and I wanted to support her, and what she was going through, and in turn, support women everywhere," Milano said. "So, I thought, if women could just come forward and say 'me too' -- just two beautiful words that Tarana started -- then we could erally start to shape this get an idea of the magnitude of this issue, and this problem."
"I sent the tweet and I went to sleep, and I woke up and there were 53,000 replies," she added.
Last week, a source told ET that Guthrie was "affected the most" by the news of Lauer's firing.
"She’s not herself. She’s visibly shaken," the source said, explaining that one day after announcing the shocking news on-air, Guthrie appeared "sad, in deep thought and preoccupied" off-camera. "She is doing her best to stay upbeat and jolly on-air."
For more on Guthrie and Lauer's close relationship, watch the video below:
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