Katherine Anne "Katie" Couric

I must confess that I am a fan of "vertically challenged" women with "baby faces" who rise above both.  That's probably because I fit that description so aptly myself.  I have always therefore had a certain admiration for 5 ft. 2 inch Katie Couric for ascending to the very heights of her profession in spite of always being referred to as "cute" rather than "beautiful" or "striking" and "perky" rather than "professional".

I do remember once, however, hearing Barbara Walters....or perhaps it was Oprah....ask her if she would ever consider running for a political office, as her sister Emily had done prior to her death from pancreatic cancer.

She laughed and quickly replied,  "Not a chance!  I have way too many skeletons in my closet!"  I thought that a puzzling statement from the woman who has often been referred to as "America's sweetheart."

Thus it was with interest when I came across "Katie The Untold Story"  by Edward Klein that I picked it up and decided to read it.  Even though Klein openly admits that it is an "unauthorized biography", he also states that he researched it meticulously with her family and friends.  Some allowed him to quote them and name them; others allowed him to quote them but chose to remain anonymous.

Klein is NOT in the category of some sensationalists who write unauthorized biographies; he is a former foreign editor of Newsweek, and former editor-in-chief of the New York Times Magazine.  He has written of the war in Israel, on Hillary Clinton, and of the Kennedy's.

So, I felt this book might have some validity.  I have to say it DID NOT present a very flattering picture of the diminutive super star.    I began to see what she meant by "too many skeletons in my closet."

He paints her as a bullying diva who capitalizes on her image as a widowed mother to further her career.

He exposes her many love affairs with men in power, all of whom he says she engaged in at least partially to help her up the ladder of success.  One such gentlemen was an executive with CNN when she was training as a producer there--her first job after graduating from college.  Katie reportedly broke up his marriage, beginning the affair while he was married and continuing it after he separated from his wife.  She later dumped him when she moved to Washington D.C. to work for NBC, supposedly breaking his heart.
The most shocking tale in author Klein's unauthorized biography is that Couric's marriage to Jay Monahan was on the rocks long before he died of cancer in 1998.
Quoting one of his numerous unnamed sources, Klein claims the couple had grown so far apart that the "only thing that stood between Katie and divorce was her fear of negative publicity."
Other unnamed sources told Klein the superstar anchor made Monahan "feel as though he wasn't good enough for her" and acted "as though she had fallen out of love."
In the book,  Klein contends Couric was so chillingly calculating that cynics at NBC took bets on how long it would take her to exploit Monahan's death.
"Some said 72 hours; others just 24 hours," Klein writes. And indeed she did appear a week later on the Today Show with Monahan's wedding ring on a chain around her neck.
He talks of her well-documented contentious relationships with Bryant Gumbel and Matt Lauer as well as Ann Curry.  According to Klein, Lauer had informed the producers he would leave the show if Couric's $65 million dollar contract were renewed. 
No doubt they would have let him, as it had become Couric's show by then;  however, she had been offered the primetime evening news spot on CBS and chose to move on.
There, she found life as the first solo newswoman in prime time on a major network to be "hell".  She was criticized for everything, from her "howdy, folks" approach to her lightened hair.  To her credit, Couric stuck out her five-year-contract before moving to ABC to do specials and to sign for a new syndicated talk show.
Klein does admit that the one thing for which Couric can never be faulted is her work ethic.  At every job she has had along the way, Couric has always been the quintessential professional, willing to work seven days a week and long hours to perfect her journalistic skills.
Read more: https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/talk-katie-hatin-article-1.239208#ixzz1zVP64IM9