Call Her Daddy

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Katie Couric: Sexism, Storytelling & Standing Up to Cancer

Explore episode Jun 24, 2026

Where this was said

Grief, Single Motherhood & Learning to Move Forward

At 1:06:09 · chapter starts 1:02:30

Alex asks how Katie moved forward without guilt — a distinction she carefully draws as moving forward rather than moving on. Katie anchors her answer in a Thomas Jefferson quote: 'The earth belongs to the living.' She reasoned that if the situation had been reversed, she wouldn't have wanted Jay's life destroyed; she applied the same logic to herself. Being a public figure gave her an unexpected lifeline: bins full of sympathy cards from complete strangers — people she'd never met and would never meet — provided comfort she might not have had otherwise. She started dating eventually, endured its own tabloid coverage, had relationships that didn't work out, and remained single for a long time. Then in 2014 she married John Molner, who she says has never felt threatened by Jay's memory, understanding that 'there's room in my heart to hold two people at the same time.' She closes with a clear-eyed acknowledgement that her marriage to Jay wasn't perfect — and that accepting its imperfections made her more open to the different but wonderful relationship she has now.

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