I remember the day former “Today” show co-host Katie Couric retuned to work following the death of her husband Jay Monahan. Her normally peppy voice cracked as she publicly thanked viewers who had sent her letters of support during her personal tragedy. It choked me up. I remember thinking that it was bad enough that she was a young widow and forced to be single mother to her two young girls, but having to cope with an indescribable loss in front of an audience of millions had to be excruciatingly painful.
That’s why I was happy to hear that Couric says she is now ready for a “solid” relationship.
“I would love to be married or in a really solid, committed relationship,” Couric, tells Parade in its upcoming issue. “I’d love that now. But he just hasn’t materialized.”
Which is not to say that Couric has been a hermit. Since her husband’s death in 1998, Couric has dated Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner and had a brief romance with jazz trumpeter Chris Botti. According to Couric, neither has been able to fill the void that Monahan left.
“I’m doing great. My kids are thriving, but when I see a father walking down the street with a little girl and holding her hand, my feeling of loss is palpable,” she says.
Couric goes on to say that any potential partner “would have to be someone capable of loving my girls – maybe not as much as their biological father, because that tie is so primal. But I’d have to think long and hard before I let anyone spend extended periods of time with them.”
Couric admits that she is protective of her daughters, but tempers it with the realization that there are “some really nice, wonderful men out there” and it is not healthy to close your heart to the possibility of love. Although the popular journalist is careful to note that she is not spending all of her time waiting for Mr. Right. She’s much too busy for that. After all, the 49-year-old is just a few weeks from making history as the first female solo anchor of a network newscast (her first night at the helm of the “CBS Evening News” is September 5th). In the meantime, Couric says she is taking advantage of not having to get up at 4 a.m. and is “doing the things with her daughters that she missed out on during her 15 years on “Today.” “For years, I never made them breakfast or walked them to school,” she says. “You realize how great it is, just being a mother.”
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