What Happened To Katie Couric? Why She Left TV Hosting Behind

Katie Couric has built a one-of-a-kind legacy. A longtime television host, she's gotten to travel the world, meet interesting people, and partake in unusual experiences for the majority of her career, all while getting paid for it. She's interviewed dignitaries and politicians, been to the Olympics, and gotten a colonoscopy on camera (although that last one probably wasn't as exciting as some of the others). Heck, she almost dated Bob Saget. Couric's life has followed a unique trajectory indeed. 

All that said, there's been a lot of lows along the way, too. Certain details of Katie Couric's life have been quite tragic, and the latter half of her hosting career was rife with major changes both in networks and programming. What was constant for so many years, however, was that Couric was able to keep her audiences up to date on such life changes through her work in television. After all, it seemed like Couric was always on our screens. 

In 2011, CBS announced Couric would be leaving "CBS Evening News" after sitting at the anchor desk for five years. In 2012, her talk show "Katie" launched. Two years later, it was canceled. Although Couric has appeared on television here and there since 2014, it's a lot harder to keep up with her now than it once was. Here's what Katie Couric has been up to in recent years and why she left TV hosting behind. 

After Katie Couric's eponymous daytime talk show ended, the television host exited television for the web. She signed a deal with Yahoo! to anchor the company's news via the internet, starting in 2014. "It's very exciting to be a part of a leading company at the intersection of content and technology ... Joining Yahoo offers a tremendous opportunity to reach people all around the world in the way that they're using and consuming media today," Couric said in a statement, as reported by Politico. 

During her time at Yahoo!, Couric interviewed some seriously major stars, such as Norman Lear, Céline Dion, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The host was especially excited to have some freedom in her new gig. "There are no rules right now," she said. "We are going to try things, we are going to see how they go, we are going to see what people are interested in, we can do everything from a town hall meeting to in-depth interviews to a breaking news story."

There being no rules might've been worse than Couric originally anticipated. By 2017, Couric ended her stint with Yahoo!, citing a lack of fulfillment and claiming that the brand didn't know how to market its products. "I had all this great content, I was getting big interviews, and it was sort of like a tree falling in the forest. They didn't put it on the front page," Couric said on an episode of the "Recode Decode" podcast.

Katie Couric's first marriage to Jay Monahan ended in tragedy. Monahan died of colon cancer in 1998 at the age of 42. He and Couric were married for nine years and they shared two children. In the wake of her family's loss, Couric threw herself into her career. "Working was my salvation. If I was doing a cooking segment, I couldn't be thinking about, you know, Jay's latest scan. It helped me maintain my sanity," she said to People of the devastating time in her life.

Couric eventually found love again. In 2014, she got married to former financier John Molner. The two exchanged vows in a backyard ceremony at Couric's Hamptons home, surrounded by an intimate crowd that included their children. "I just wasn't nervous at all. For someone who is generally hyper, I was incredibly relaxed," Couric said on "Today" after the wedding. And her marital bliss lasted well into the year. "[Life] is great. It's fun. He's really funny and really fun to be with. I love being with him. The honeymoon isn't over yet, so it's nice," Couric said to People a few months after her wedding. The honeymoon seems to still be intact. In 2023, on their ninth anniversary, Molner paid tribute to his wife on Instagram. "9 years! What an adventure. I'm lucky to have you in my life! Where to next?" he said.

Katie Couric is a household name, and while she didn't start her career with the intention of working as an actor, she's had the chance to do so anyway. Acting opportunities arose for Couric long before she left television hosting behind. In 2002, the host took a role playing a prison guard in the movie "Austin Powers in Goldmember," and that same year she played herself in two episodes of "Will & Grace." In 2004, Couric lent her voice to a character called Katie Current in the hit animated film "Shark Tale." That served as her last acting role for a while.

In 2011, Couric again played herself in an episode of "Glee," and in 2016, after her time as a television host had come to an end, she took roles in the films "Zoolander 2," "Sully," and "True Memoirs of an International Assassin," as well as the series "Notorious." In between all of her other projects, Couric continually found time to squeeze in some acting roles. In 2017 and 2020, the star played herself in episodes of "This Is Us" and "The Boys," respectively, and in 2023 she played a reporter in two episodes of the podcast "Supreme: The Battle for Roe."

Katie Couric had produced some throughout her career in television, but when she left hosting behind, she went at it full force. The host — along with her husband, John Molner — founded her own production company called Katie Couric Media, and through it she's helped bring to life both scripted and unscripted programming. Among her projects have been "Flint," "Unbelievable," and "An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th." Back in 2017, the star was working tirelessly on her new venture, traveling often to get footage. "I'm kind of a hot mess in every aspect of my life, so I'm lucky I have an assistant who appreciates how disorganized I am. She always makes sure I have my license and my passport with me," Couric said to The Cut of trying to stay organized.

Katie Couric Media is still alive and well today, and the company also works with major companies to create branded content. "Katie and I saw how brands were moving away from traditional advertising and looking for ways to create purpose-driven content. KCM is proud to help brands tell stories that matter through a collaborative partnership with one of the most trusted voices in media," Molner said of one of the production company's focuses.

Katie Couric couldn't let hosting go completely by the wayside. While she didn't return to television hosting in the same way she had done it before, in 2017, the star and her husband, John Molner, joined forces to host a cooking show called "Full Plate." The series followed the couple as they learned more about cooking from renowned chef Joel Gamoran. "It wasn't that I couldn't boil water, but I was nervous to try cooking fish or dried beans or more complicated things," Couric said to Bon Appetit of her culinary skills at the beginning of the series. The series, which streamed on the internet, was produced by Couric's production company in collaboration with Sur La Table. Couric and Molner conquered dishes like lamb chops, scallops, and cauliflower grits for their audience.

Couric's cooking show allowed her to reflect on her relationship with food and how it benefited her hosting career. "I think one of the reasons people related to me is I wasn't perfect. I didn't look like a Barbie doll; I was somebody who might be your neighbor or your friend or your sister. I didn't really obsess too much about that and I think the fact that I wasn't super glamorous made me much more relatable," Couric said, adding that while she does eat nutritious meals, she doesn't follow a particular diet.

In 2020, legendary game show host Alex Trebek died. Trebek had hosted "Jeopardy!" since 1984, and the world wondered who would be selected to take over this iconic gig. While the producers of the series searched for a permanent host, a slew of guest hosts did their best to fill Trebek's shoes to keep the show on air. Trebek had pre-taped quite a few episodes, so the show didn't need a guest host until 2021. Among the guest hosts were Savannah Guthrie, Aaron Rodgers, Mayim Bialik, Ken Jennings, and Katie Couric.

Couric used her stint to raise money for Stand Up to Cancer, a cause close to her heart. "I tried to make it my own, as Paula Abdul would say, but also respect the institution because 'Jeopardy' is not really a game show. It doesn't feel right to call it a game show. It is an American institution," Couric said of the gig to Poynter. "I think it has become so a part of people's lives that you don't want to mess with a good thing. So I tried to strike that balance. It was a lot of fun, but it was a very tough job." While the host enjoyed taking on the challenge, she didn't see herself stepping into the role full time. "I love what I'm doing now. I have tremendous flexibility," she said. Ultimately, Bialik and Jennings were chosen as permanent hosts, with Jennings becoming the sole host in late 2023.

After spending decades on television, Katie Couric still felt like the world didn't quite know who she was. To rectify that, she wrote a memoir. "Going There," which was released in 2021, offers readers a different look into Couric's world. "On TV, you are larger than life but somehow smaller, too, a neatly cropped version of who you are. Real life — the complications and contradictions, the messy parts — remains outside the frame. [Television] is not the whole story, and it is not the whole me. This book is," Couric wrote in "Going There," as reported by NPR.

The memoir, which offers a behind the scenes look at events such as Katie Couric's intimate meeting with Princess Diana, received praise from critics. Another hot topic was Matt Lauer, Couric's "Today" co-host who got ousted in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. "I know Matt thinks I betrayed him, and that makes me sad. But he betrayed me, too, by how he behaved behind closed doors at the show we both cared about so much," Couric wrote in the book. The host also owned up to her own past journalistic indiscretions, sharing her regrets over questions she asked a trans actor in an interview, pretending to be homeless for a story, and omitting one of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's interview answers on a question about police brutality. "I lost a lot of sleep over that one and still wrestle with the decision I made," Couric said of the RBG incident.

In 2022, Katie Couric opened up about some devastating health news: she had breast cancer. The veteran anchor recounted the moment she learned of her diagnosis in a Katie Couric Media blog post. "I felt sick and the room started to spin. I was in the middle of an open office, so I walked to a corner and spoke quietly, my mouth unable to keep up with the questions swirling in my head," she recalled. The veteran anchor was afraid of what this all could mean not only for her, but for her daughters. "They'd already lost one parent," she wrote. "The idea of losing another was unfathomable."

Couric's treatment consisted of a surgery to remove a tumor in her breast and radiation to clear out any potential remaining cancer cells throughout her body. The surgery and radiation were both successful, and Couric is now in remission.

The former television host has since used her experience to advocate for the importance of early cancer detection, as that's what kept her sickness from manifesting into something more dangerous. "I'm a living, walking example of the importance of early detection and getting screened," Couric said to People in 2023. "I was very fortunate. My cancer was caught very, very early when it's most treatable, and if I can just be an advertisement for people to get screened, to get their mammography done, to talk to their doctors, and if they have dense breasts, to get additional screening."

Katie Couric didn't just use her own experience with cancer to advocate for early detection — she also started campaigning for everyone to have access to quality healthcare. 

In her aforementioned essay about her diagnosis, Couric pointed out how crucial it is that people have access to regular checkups as well as diagnostic scans. "To reap the benefits of modern medicine, we need to stay on top of our screenings, advocate for ourselves, and make sure everyone has access to the diagnostic tools that could very well save their life," she wrote. She then began casting a wider net.

Couric has made the rounds speaking to podcast hosts and various journalists about the importance of early detection and healthcare equity. "When I learned that Black women or women of color have a 40% higher mortality rate, I felt both grateful that I had access to care but also enraged that so many women don't," the host said in Forbes. She also talked about her experiences on the "Cancer Straight Talk from MSK" podcast, and she opened up to USA Today about her passions for advocacy. "People must roll their eyes and say, 'Oh, there she goes, again, from colons to boobs.' But I feel like I have an obligation. That I have an audience. They've watched me for a long time," Couric said.

Though she arguably doesn't need the paycheck — Katie Couric is worth lots of money, with an estimated net worth of $110 million — the super star journalist is still working hard in her post-TV host era. Back in 2016, Couric launched her podcast "Next Question with Katie Couric," and she's been releasing episodes on a regular basis ever since. 

After years in business, Couric's media company, Katie Couric Media, has expanded significantly. "We now are sort of a thoroughly modern media company with newsletters — we have four now. We have, obviously, a podcast, and I'm giving birth — not literally — to other podcasts. And then, of course, I use social media to do a lot of newsmaking interviews," Couric said in an interview with CNBC Television in 2024. Couric might not be on television anymore, but she's still a prominent figure in the media landscape.

Couric's life isn't all business, though. She's celebrated some personal milestones recently, too. In 2024, Couric became a grandmother for the first time when her daughter Ellie Monahan gave birth. "Witnessing your baby have a baby is wild ... I know she's going to be a wonderful mother," Couric said in a blog post upon the birth of her grandson. And she was excited to become a grandmother before his birth. "I'm looking forward to spending time with my grandchild and just doing the fun stuff because grandparents get to do the fun stuff," Couric said to USA Today.