If you’ve devoured Going There and still want more Katie-content, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re on this site, you’ve probably felt — at one point or another — like Katie Couric was your friend. You might have connected with her when she stepped into your home every morning during her time on the TODAY Show. Or maybe you discovered her later in life, thanks to her whip-smart newsletter! Whatever the reason, you can’t get enough of Katie, and we don’t blame you. This inspiring broadcaster reached historic highs as a journalist and bared her soul (and her colon) for the world to see.
But Katie’s the first to admit there’s much more to her than what you’ve seen on TV or social media. “Over the years, whenever I ran into TODAY show viewers, they’d tell me they felt like they knew me. And in so many ways, they did,” Katie wrote in her memoir Going There. “Because the parts of me they saw were real — the joy and frustration, the bloopers and belly laughs, the genuine affection I felt for my colleagues. They saw me become a mom to two daughters and grieve the loss of my husband and sister; they even got a good look at my colon. But it was two hours a day in a manufactured setting. There’s so much the audience didn’t see.”
Luckily for all you Katie stans, she wrote her memoir a few years ago. But if you’ve devoured Going There and still want more, you’ve come to the right place. Because there’s never a dull moment with this woman. (Trust us, we work with her.)
We know that so many of you still have questions about Katie’s career and personal life (including her brand new grandbaby!), so we’re here to answer them. Below, dive into all things Katie and continue to get to know the woman who’s dedicated her career to telling the stories that fascinate her.
Jump to where is Katie Couric from?
Jump to Katie Couric’s TODAY Show career
Jump to Katie Couric’s first husband, Jay Monahan
Jump to Katie Couric’s daughters
Jump to Katie Couric’s grandchild
Jump to Katie Couric’s husband, John Molner
The Basics
Where is Katie Couric from?
Katie was born and raised in Arlington, Virginia. “My neighborhood growing up was the postwar suburban dream: hilly streets teeming with kids riding bikes and playing capture the flag, roving house to house on Halloween dressed up as cowboys and witches. Striving middle-class families who’d moved there for the good schools,” she described in her memoir. Katie’s parents, John and Elinor, owned a four-bedroom brick Colonial — they bought it for $30,500 in 1957 when Katie was six months old. “It had shutters the color of Georgia clay and three windows facing the street on the second floor. When I was a teenager, the middle one would be aglow until I came home at exactly 11:50 p.m., just before my curfew. Our house exuded a modest solidity that also described my family.”
How old is Katie Couric?
Whoever suggested a woman not reveal their age never met Katie Couric, who embraces aging with humor and grace! Katie was born on January 7, 1957, and turned 65 in 2022. While she’s big on birthdays, she felt a little underwhelmed about this one. “Generally, I love birthdays. I like mine to last the entire month of January!” she shared earlier this year. “Even though I’m a glass-half-full person and my late husband used to say, I was ‘born on a sunny day,’ I have to be honest. I’m not feeling great about this birthday. For some reason, 65 seems like a really big number. As John reminded me, I’m now closer to 70, which was super helpful! I think I started dreading this day ever since I got a text from CVS telling me I was eligible for Medicare.” Plus, the pandemic is getting in the way of partying: “It feels like a really big number and I think it’s compounded by the fact that we’re, once again, in Covid and I can’t really celebrate it. It’s just hard to celebrate anything.”
Where did Katie Couric go to college?
Katie went to the University of Virginia. She wanted to go to Smith College, like her sister, Kiki. But, she says she wasn’t as disciplined as her sisters. “Yes, I worked hard and did well enough, but my superpower was my emotional intelligence — I learned at a very early age how to win friends and influence people, something that doesn’t necessarily come through on a high school transcript,” she wrote in Going There. Unfortunately, she didn’t get in. “It is burned in my memory, coming home from school one day and seeing an envelope addressed to me sitting on the mahogany dresser in the living room that doubled as a mail table. It was from Smith. It was thin. I knew what that meant.”
Where does Katie Couric live?
Katie lives in Manhattan — and has a home in the Hamptons where she spends lots of time. But she’ll always be a city gal at heart. That’s why the NYC stop of her book tour was so special to her. But Katie travels a lot for work and is currently spending some time on the West Coast. Want to travel like Katie? Here’s how she packs.
Katie’s Career
What made Katie Couric famous?
If you ask us, she became “famous” because of her charm, intelligence, and tenacity. But to most people, she became a household name when she became a co-anchor of the TODAY Show in 1991 — though she was making a name for herself long before that. Katie had her first live on-camera stint at CNN. “On camera was where I wanted to be,” she wrote in Going There. “After all, I’d been ‘on’ my entire life, whether it was at dinner with my family or at the lunch table with my friends. I can’t remember a time I ever shied away from the spotlight.”
After CNN, she worked at WTVJ in Miami, then went to WRC in Washington, DC. The WRC office was one flight up from the Washington bureau of NBC News. Next, she entered the TODAY Show orbit, first subbing as a newsreader on the show — and she made a great impression. In 1990, the call came, “‘We love your work,’ [Dick Ebersol] said. ‘We think you’re doing a great job. Which is why’ — here it comes — ‘we want to offer you the newly created position of national correspondent for the TODAY Show.’” And the rest was history.
Why did Katie Couric leave the TODAY Show?
In her own words: “I longed to be respected for my journalistic chops, and although I’d done many serious interviews in the morning, the fun stuff, which I had a blast doing — like flying across the plaza dressed as Peter Pan while flinging phosphorescent confetti, fulfilling my dream of being a backup singer for Darlene Love, hurling myself onto a Velcro wall — was what people remembered. I felt like the show was getting softer, the hard news interviews getting shorter, the segments getting more sensational.”
When did Katie Couric leave the TODAY Show?
By 2005, Katie was ready for a change. She wrote in Going There: “I loved the TODAY Show, but after 15 years, I was getting restless.” She was offered a job at CBS, and took it because it was an extraordinary opportunity — “for me and for women.” Her last day at TODAY was May 31st, 2006, after which she became the first female anchor of the CBS Evening News.
Who did Katie Couric replace at CBS?
Katie took over for interim anchor Bob Schieffer, who held the job for more than a year. (Schieffer replaced longtime anchor Dan Rather.)
Where is Katie Couric now and what is she doing today?
The more appropriate question is, what ISN’T she doing? She founded her own media company with her husband John Molner in 2017. Katie Couric Media is responsible for that wonderful daily newsletter Wake-Up Call, as well as documentaries, podcasts, and the thoughtful and informative articles you read on KatieCouric.com. (Like this one, naturally.) She wrote her memoir, of course, which was released in 2021, and she went on a 10 city book tour. She’s also still very involved in the nonprofit she co-founded, Stand Up To Cancer. So, yeah…she’s been busy.
Katie Couric’s book
As we’ve mentioned a few thousand times by now, Katie wrote a memoir called Going There. It’s an uplifting, eye-opening, and honest look at Katie’s life and the speedy, enthralling media world. “Looking back on my life at age 64, I thought it was worth taking pen to paper and reflecting on the many experiences I’ve had, the stories I’ve covered, the cultural changes I’ve witnessed, and some of the losses I’ve endured,” she shared with KCM before the book came out. “Mine is a story of one woman at a particular period in time who tried to achieve her goals in both the workplace and as a wife and mother. I think a lot of people will relate to my experiences, and maybe they’ll help people gain deeper insights into their own lives and challenges.”
Her Personal Life
Katie Couric and Jay Monahan
Katie’s first husband was Jay Monahan. They met at a party in Falls Church, Virginia, when Katie was working at WRC in Washington, D.C. She recalled the moment she first laid eyes on him in Going There: “As I called the eight ball in the corner pocket like Minnesota Fats, I spotted two guys walking down the stairs. They were both really attractive, but I was drawn to the one with curly brown hair wearing a cocoa-colored fisherman’s sweater.” They talked at the party and exchanged business cards (he was an attorney). When he didn’t call after a few days, she called him!
He proposed to her about a year after they met. They got married on June 10, 1989.
They had 230 guests at the wedding…and a few mishaps. The wedding was “lovely” and simple. “As for the reception, neither of our families could afford a super-snazzy affair with a soup-to-nuts sit-down dinner. I’m remembering stuffed mushrooms, Swedish meatballs in chafing dishes, and strawberries you could dip in a vat of chocolate mousse.” They had a 40s-style swing band and Steve
Doocy (pre-Fox and Friends) emceed. “Jay and I were driven off in a friend’s car, our heads and arms popping out of the sunroof as we waved to the crowd.”
Then they went on a two-week honeymoon to Italy. (Talk about living the dream…)
They had two daughters before Jay got sick in 1997; he died of colon cancer in 1998. Katie said that revisiting this part of her life was the hardest part of writing her memoir: “When it comes down to it, writing about Jay’s diagnosis with cancer and his subsequent death was the hardest part of writing this book. It truly felt like I was reliving the experience, which was the worst time in my life.”
Katie Couric’s daughters
Katie had two daughters with her late husband Jay, Elinor “Ellie” Monahan, 32, and Caroline “Carrie” Monahan, 27. Katie and Jay welcomed Ellie in 1991 and Carrie in 1996.
She wrote about the moment she realized she wanted it all in Going There: “Cassie Mackin, the ABC correspondent I’d idolized, died of cancer at 43. I remember watching her funeral on TV. VIPs like Ted Kennedy, Frank Reynolds, and David Brinkley carried her coffin. No husband or children in sight. Perhaps that was her choice. But the scene helped clarify my choice: yes, a career. And a husband and kids too.”
Katie credits her schedule at TODAY for allowing her to be there for her daughters in ways other parents couldn’t — although, she admits the early mornings and notoriety added extra challenges to parenting that others didn’t experience.
In case you missed it, Ellie got married a few years ago, and it was all Katie could think about for a few months! In December, 2023, Katie announced that Ellie was pregnant and that she found out before the Taylor Swift concert
Katie also has two step-kids, Molner’s kids Allie and Henry Molner.
Is Katie Couric a grandma?
Katie’s daughter Ellie gave birth in March 2024 to a baby boy named Jay, named after Katie’s late husband and Ellie’s father. Katie gushed about becoming a grandma in an essay the day after he was born. “I am so excited to watch Baby Jay go through all the stages — smiling, crawling, walking, talking — and to see the world unfold through the eyes of a child,” she wrote. “I’m going to try to enjoy every moment. It’s so true what they say: The days are long, but the years are short. As a grandparent, I’m hoping the years will be long! The “grand” in front of “mother” makes me keenly aware that time is precious. I can’t wait to take him to the beach, the library, get an ice cream cone, bring him to his first Broadway show. I’m going to spoil this kid rotten and not worry about it. We’re going to have to make a lot of trips to the West Coast — but thank goodness for FaceTime.”
She revealed that her grandson will call her Gogo. “It seemed fitting, because I’m like the Energizer Bunny, always on the go-go.”
Who is Katie Couric’s husband John Molner?
If you’re a regular Wake-Up Call reader, you know who Katie’s husband is. Molner is her (and our) main man! Molner’s formerly a general partner at a New York-based investment firm, and he founded KCM with her in 2017.
John’s from Chicago, and was born in 1963 — he’ll be celebrating his 60th birthday in 2023.
They got married in June 2014 in the Hamptons.
How did Katie Couric meet John Molner?
Katie’s friend Molly set them up! It took him a while to get in touch, but he finally did, and they went on their first date (a blind date) on April 27, 2012.
Does Katie Couric have cancer?
In September 2022, Katie announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer over the summer. She had a lumpectomy and did radiation to treat the cancer. She opened up about the experience in an essay.
