NBC up-and-comer SAVVANNAH GUTHRIE brings some baggage to her new gig on the “Today” show – she was the “other woman” in a love triangle that set the media world buzzing!
While reporting on Michael Jackson’s sexual molestation trial in 2005, Savannah hooked up with handsome – but very married – British TV producer Mark Orchard.
“They were both covering the trial – Savannah for Court TV and Mark for the BBC – and they were drawn to each other. There was instant chemistry between them and all the media types noticed,” a source told The ENQUIRER.
“During the trial’s downtime, they headed off together. Among the other journalists there, there was a lot of talk about Savannah and Mark pairing off.”
Over the course of the five-month trial, Orchard left his wife, then-“New York Times” reporter Anne Kornblut, and began publicly dating Savannah – newly named co-host of “Today’s” third hour.
The lovebirds married in December 2005, but split in January 2009, and the affair tarnished 39-year-old Savannah’s name, said the source.
“Savannah has a reputation of being a great journalist, but her affair with Mark gave her a black eye in some circles,” the source revealed.
“His ex-wife Anne is a really outstanding woman, and she has a lot of friends who obviously aren’t big fans of Savannah.”
Anne went on to marry political journalist Jon Cohen last year, while Savannah is now dating political consultant Michael Feldman, a former aide to Al Gore.
But insiders wonder whether Savannah – now based in Washington, D.C., as NBC’s White House correspondent and co-host of “The Daily Rundown” on MSNBC – will stay with Feldman when she moves to New York City for her “Today” job.
“It’s going to be a big test for them,” a friend told The ENQUIRER.
