Katie Couric Bravely Opens Up About Late Husband's 'Out of the Blue' Diagnosis
Katie Couric is looking back on one of the most difficult moments in her life.
The former Today show host, recently sat down for a new tell-all interview, where she opened up in depth about the losing her first husband, Jay Monahan, who died just months after being diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer.
Monahan was only 41 when he received the shock diagnosis in 1997. He died nine months later in January 1998, just two weeks after his 42nd birthday.
While making an appearance on Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday, June 24, Couric bravely reflected on the devastating situation, getting candid about what it was like to lose her spouse within just a matter of months.
"It was terrible. It was so out of the blue," Couric stated, revealed that it was her nanny at the time who called to tell her that Monahan was "doubled over in pain" and that something was "seriously wrong."
"In a nanosecond everything changed," she said, noting that the cancer had spread to Monahan's liver and that the prognosis was "bleak."
"It was hell," said Couric, who had been married to Monahan for nearly nine years by the time of his death. They shared two daughters together, Elinor (Ellie) and Caroline (Carrie), who were ages 5 and 1 when their dad was diagnosed.
"It was crushing and heartbreaking to see someone young and healthy and smart and vibrant and loving, and an incredible father and husband, suddenly facing this," Couric explained, adding that her husband's diagnosis was "ultimately a death sentence."
Despite the unimaginable circumstances of Monahan's death, Couric found that her public persona actually provided her an unexpected sense of comfort.
"Believe it or not, being a public person, I got so much support," Couric told Cooper, noting that she had "bins and bins" filled with sympathy cards at the time. "In a weird way that was extremely helpful."
In the years since Monahan's death, Couric has continuously used her platform to advocate for cancer awareness, even famously undergoing a colonoscopy on-air during a Today show broadcast in 2000. She got remarried in 2014 to her current husband, John Molner.
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This story was originally published June 25, 2026 at 5:54 PM.