Today host Savannah Guthrie honored internet star Brooke Eby on air and Instagram after Eby died at 37 from ALS, praising the guest’s humor, openness, and grit.
Savannah Guthrie paused Monday’s Today broadcast to tell viewers that Brooke Eby had died on October 1. Eby was 37. She had been diagnosed with ALS at 33 and built a large online following by posting candid, often funny videos about her decline.
TV Insider reported that Guthrie aired a clip from their 2023 interview and posted a matching tribute on Instagram the same day, writing that “lovely Brooke” would be missed and, over the video, “Rest in peace, lovely Brooke.”
From Studio 1A, Guthrie framed the loss in direct terms and refused to soft-pedal the disease.
"Our friend Brooke Eby passed away on October 1 after waging a remarkable battle against ALS. It was remarkable for the way she bore that devastating diagnosis that she received at the age of 33. She did it with courage and openness and humor. She was determined to share every aspect of her journey. The videos she posted on social media were often hilarious and garnered her a devoted following of millions."
She kept going. Even as her body failed, Eby kept posting. She also founded ALS Together, a community for other people living with the disease. Guthrie relayed a line from Eby’s father, Cliff, that cut through the usual haze of tribute language.
"Her efforts didn’t find a cure for the next Brooke, but she wounded the ALS monster. We are so grateful to all her followers and supporters."
Brooke Eby was 37 years old, Guthrie said, and she will be missed. Co-anchor Craig Melvin backed the remembrance on air and called Eby “quite the inspiration,” recalling the earlier interview.
In the 2023 Today sit-down that aired again Monday, Guthrie asked how Eby kept such cheer under a serious diagnosis. Eby did not reach for slogans. She named her method.
"Levity is my superpower, and it’s really how I’m bringing my story to the world. I’m trying to use humor and really let ALS be heard."
That approach built the following Guthrie described. It also gave strangers a way to talk about a disease that usually stays behind closed doors. ALS wastes muscle and speech. Eby answered with jokes, updates, and steady visibility instead of silence.
Guthrie has carried heavy personal news of her own while still showing up for work and for guests. She has used Instagram in recent months to press for answers after her mother, Nancy Guthrie, was abducted from an Arizona home in February, a case that still has no named suspects. That strain did not stop the anchor from clearing time for Eby’s story on a national broadcast.
Readers following the anchor’s family crisis have seen her mark six months since her mother’s abduction with public appeals for information, even as the Today desk kept rolling.
Monday’s segment was simpler. A former guest died. The host said her name, replayed her voice, and let the father’s judgment stand without polish.
Guthrie’s Instagram tribute drew comments from people who had watched Eby’s videos and from people who had lived the same diagnosis in their families. A hospice chaplain wrote that ALS is heartbreaking and thanked Eby for sharing the full journey with humor. Another commenter said she was both a devoted follower and the daughter of a parent taken by bulbar-onset ALS, and thanked Guthrie for carrying the news to a wide audience.
Those notes matter because they came from people who already knew the cost. They were not generic condolences. They were receipts of a life that made a private disease harder to ignore.
The same anchor has also pleaded for her mother’s captor to come forward as that separate investigation drags on with no arrest announced in the material surrounding Monday’s tribute.
None of that family pressure changed the basic facts Guthrie put on the record about Eby: diagnosis at 33, death at 37, public fight, humor intact, community built, father grateful, millions watching.
Coverage of the Nancy Guthrie case has included claims and reviews of ransom messages, including reporting that Pima County flagged a new ransom text as not credible as the file stretched on. Guthrie still made room for a guest’s obituary on the morning show.
Eby’s method was not complicated. She refused to hide. She used levity when fear would have been easier. She built ALS Together so other patients were not alone. Her father did not pretend she cured the disease. He said she wounded it, and he thanked the people who showed up with her.
Earlier threads in the abduction story have tracked the first ransom note in the Nancy Guthrie case and other claimed contacts. Monday’s Today remembrance stood apart from that ordeal. It was about a young woman who turned a terminal diagnosis into a public record of courage.
When institutions have no cure ready, character still counts. Brooke Eby proved it on camera, and Savannah Guthrie made sure the country heard her name one more time.
