Veteran New York TV anchor Rosanna Scotto fought back tears live on the air Tuesday as a familiar song triggered an emotional memory of her late parents.
Scotto, 68, had just returned to Good Day New York on Sept. 1 following the death of her beloved mother, Marion Scotto, who died in August at age 90.
The emotional moment unfolded just before the morning weather forecast, when B.J. Thomas’ classic “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” began playing.
Almost immediately, Scotto became visibly overwhelmed.
“Sorry, sorry. This song reminds me of my parents,” she told viewers as she tried to compose herself.
The longtime Fox 5 favorite then thanked fans for the flood of messages she has received since losing her mom.
“Anyway, thank you so much for all the comments and text messages and whatever,” Scotto said.
Then, in a moment that was both heartbreaking and unmistakably New York, she joked about how her famously tough mother would have reacted.
“My mother would kill me right now if she saw me crying on the air, so we’re going to get it together.”
Scotto looked upward and added, “Mom, I’m sorry.”
Her colleagues immediately rallied around her.
“Rosanna, you have our deepest condolences from all of us here at Fox 5 and all of our viewers,” co-anchor Dan Bowens told her.
Meteorologist Mike Woods added, “Nice to have you back. And we get it, we got you.”
Scotto announced Marion’s death on Aug. 26 in a deeply personal Instagram tribute.
The news sparked an outpouring of condolences from viewers and celebrity friends, including Hoda Kotb, Al Roker, Andy Cohen, Gloria Gaynor, Debi Mazar, Jill Martin, Dolores Catania, Melissa Gorga and Margaret Josephs.
Earlier Tuesday, Scotto posted another video marking her return to work.
“We’re back in the saddle,” she said. “Thank you for the text messages, the comments, the Instagram messages. Appreciate it so much. It was really lovely.”
Scotto said she was still going through the many messages but believed her mother would have wanted her back behind the anchor desk.
“Mom would have wanted that,” she said.
In fact, Scotto joked that Marion probably would have ordered her back to work much sooner.
“After Dad died, she had us back in the restaurant that night,” Scotto recalled. “I’ve taken more time than she would have allowed if she were around.”
Marion was widely known to New Yorkers as the matriarch behind the famed Manhattan restaurant Fresco by Scotto.
But for Rosanna and her siblings, she was simply Mom.
“To the world, Marion Scotto became known as the heart of Fresco by Scotto. But to us, she was simply Mom,” Scotto wrote in her tribute.
“She taught us that family comes first, that hard work is a privilege, and that faith, love and determination can carry you through almost anything.”
Marion was a mother of four, grandmother of eight and a great-grandmother whose greatest joy was watching her family grow.
She was also the driving force behind one of the family’s biggest gambles.
More than three decades ago, when the Scottos had the opportunity to open a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, Marion reportedly mortgaged the Brooklyn home where she and her husband had raised their children to help make the dream happen.
Friends and relatives warned her against taking the risk.
She did it anyway.
“Most people would’ve walked away. Not our mother,” Scotto wrote. “She believed in her family. She believed in hard work.”
That gamble paid off.
Fresco by Scotto became a New York institution, welcoming presidents, world leaders, royalty and countless celebrities over the years.
But Rosanna said her mother never measured success by the famous people who walked through the doors.
“She measured it by whether people left feeling cared for. And well fed!” Scotto wrote.
Marion’s husband, Anthony Scotto, died in 2021.
Rosanna ended her tribute with a touching hope that her parents were finally together again.
“Your table will always be set in our hearts,” she wrote. “We hope Dad is waiting for you with some Frank Sinatra music or … maybe even Frank Sinatra.”
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