Why Katie Couric's Former Nanny Has Come Out Swinging Over Her Bombshell Book

Katie Couric has been under fire with the release of her memoir "Going There." In the book, she criticizes several female television personalities, including Diane Sawyer, Deborah Norville, and Martha Stewart, and even admits that she wouldn't reach out to then-newcomer Ashleigh Banfield because it would have been "self-sabotage" (via New York Post). 

"Nobody can understand why Katie did this. She's ruining her legacy," an unnamed senior news producer told the New York Post. "She's ... so rough on other women for being ambitious like she was, it's unforgivable. She gives fresh meaning to that old saying: 'There's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women.'"

Perhaps one of the most shocking revelations is Couric's claim that she had to fire a former nanny because the woman became too attached to her. Couric alleges that the nanny — who she calls "Doris" in the book — "managed to grow deep, twisted roots into our family and my psyche, leaving me to imagine I couldn't function without her." She added that the woman created an "alarming level of codependency" with her in "such a subtle, crafty way," and that the journalist became a "gaslit woman in peril in a Lifetime movie." Couric said she finally parted ways with the nanny when it became clear she was "delusional" and "trying to destroy my marriage" (via Daily Mail). 

But the former nanny — who's real name is Nancy Poznek — is now fighting back in an interview with Daily Mail.

Katie Couric's former nanny is accusing the television personality of making up lies to sell more books. In an interview with Daily Mail, Nancy Poznek — who is now 76 — says that she was "shocked" after reading how she is portrayed in Couric's memoir "Going There." 

"I was extremely upset. This is going to be in the book forever, it's not true and I have to live with that all the time," she said. "If I ran into Katie Couric on the street I wouldn't look at her, I wouldn't say anything. Maybe before this story came out I would have but not since that. I don't want anything to do with her."

Poznek added that working for Couric was like working for a "teenage boy." "One time when we were in Key West, [Couric's then-husband] Jay said to me, come on you gotta come with me. He took me up to the bedroom, she was in the bathroom and he said look — it was her pillow, she'd picked her nose all night, all the [boogers] were lined up," Poznek said. "She was like that. She'll drink out of a milk carton and when her underwear were dirty she'll turn them inside out."

Nancy Poznek also revealed that Katie Couric's first husband Jay Monahan even hid the fact that he was having severe stomach pains because he was afraid she would leave him. "He was afraid. He couldn't tell her his stomach was bad," noted Poznek (via Daily Mail). "She didn't want to hear it, she had enough on her plate with her job." 

Monahan died of colon cancer at the age of 42 in 1996. "Katie comes and plays this grieving widow thing," Poznek said. "The widow card and the reason she does that is because she's guilty, she wasn't around for him all those years. He couldn't function, this was on his mind all the time."

Couric went on to date musician Chris Botti and businessman Brooks Perlin before settling down with banker John Molner in 2014 (via USA Today). "It took me a long time [to marry again] because I loved being married and I love being married now," Couric told People. "And I'm not a solitary person. I like company. And John is so funny. He's just got this incredibly dry and wry sense of humor, and he doesn't take himself too seriously. And he's just fun to be around."

Katie Couric wrote in her memoir "Going There" that she had fired Nancy Polzek when she realized the nanny was trying to destroy her marriage to first husband Jay Monahan, which Polzek denies. In fact, Polzek says she quit after the couple refused to give her the weekend off. As for the claim that she wanted to harm Couric and Monahan's union, Polzek told Daily Mail, "People destroy their own marriage. I was not trying to destroy Katie and Jay's marriage."

She's also upset about the unwanted publicity that the book will bring to her. "When she goes into these auditoriums she's not going to be embarrassed to talk about it, and on TV?" explains Polzek. "They can't wait until she comes on and you don't think they're going to bring up this delusional nanny? I don't care if she comes back at me, I'm going to say my piece. Freedom of speech is my right, this isn't about money."