Katie Couric and Matt Lauer spent nine years together as co-anchors on TODAY, but Lauer's firing in 2017 for inappropriate sexual conduct led to the end of their relationship, Couric told TODAY on Tuesday.
"We have no relationship," Couric, speaking about Lauer, told Savannah Guthrie in a wide-ranging interview about Couric's upcoming memoir, "Going There."
Couric said she did her own reporting after hearing of the allegations of sexual harassment and abuses of power against her former colleague and discovered "there was a side of Matt I never really knew."
"As I got more information and learned what was going on behind the scenes, it was really upsetting and disturbing," she said. "It was really devastating, but also disgusting.
"I think what I realized is that there was a side of Matt I never really knew, and I tried to understand why he behaved the way he he did, and why he was so reckless and callous, and honestly abusive to other women.”
In the new book, Couric, 64, holds nothing back in sharing many inside details of her time at NBC, CNN, CBS and Yahoo News. "Going There" hits shelves on Oct. 26.
She covers everything from her family being "blighted with racists" and suffering from an eating disorder as a teen and young adult to some fraught interactions with high-level executives during her time on television.
Couric also described specifically leaving out a statement by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in an interview when Couric was at Yahoo. She says she did it to protect Ginsburg's reputation.
According to Couric, Ginsburg said that former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who drew criticism for kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and systemic racism, and other players who chose to kneel had "contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life."
Speaking to Savannah on Tuesday, Couric said leaving the line out of her finished piece on Ginsburg was a mistake.
“Ultimately, I think I should have included it,” she said. “But I also think it’s really important to look at what I did include. She had to make a statement afterwards saying her comments were harsh and dismissive.”
This is a breaking news story, check back for updates.
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