Katie CouricOn her relationship with Brooks Perlin ending and if she’s optimistic about finding love again:
Of course! I am a person who really enjoys having a partner. I’m pretty much a glass-half-full kind of person. That hasn’t changed.
On her new talk show, ‘Katie’:
She says it will feature many segments on wellness and health, though she comments, I’m not Dr. Oz.
We’ve got a notebook chockablock with ideas, and ABC has been wonderful. They seem to like the kind of work I do. One of the things I’m most excited about is being able to help people navigate or understand medical information or certain illnesses better through the show. If I can accomplish that, it’d be great. I’ve gone through a lot of medical situations, through Jay and my sister [Emily, who died in 2001 from pancreatic cancer], and my dad had Parkinson’s. So I’m sort of the family advocate—I try to learn all I can to be helpful to my family members. I’m also very interested in health and wellness.
On her advocacy work:
I don’t mean to sound morbid, but I’m hoping that ‘cancer advocate’ will be the first line of my obituary. It’s definitely what I’m proudest of. I think journalism serves people – I do. But on the other hand, the idea that I’ve actually saved a few lives along the way through advocacy is incredibly gratifying to me.
Of course! I am a person who really enjoys having a partner. I’m pretty much a glass-half-full kind of person. That hasn’t changed.
On her new talk show, ‘Katie’:
She says it will feature many segments on wellness and health, though she comments, I’m not Dr. Oz.
We’ve got a notebook chockablock with ideas, and ABC has been wonderful. They seem to like the kind of work I do. One of the things I’m most excited about is being able to help people navigate or understand medical information or certain illnesses better through the show. If I can accomplish that, it’d be great. I’ve gone through a lot of medical situations, through Jay and my sister [Emily, who died in 2001 from pancreatic cancer], and my dad had Parkinson’s. So I’m sort of the family advocate—I try to learn all I can to be helpful to my family members. I’m also very interested in health and wellness.
On her advocacy work:
I don’t mean to sound morbid, but I’m hoping that ‘cancer advocate’ will be the first line of my obituary. It’s definitely what I’m proudest of. I think journalism serves people – I do. But on the other hand, the idea that I’ve actually saved a few lives along the way through advocacy is incredibly gratifying to me.
Katie Couric In Prevention MagazineOn her exercise routine:
I do Spinning and Pilates in the morning,between 8:30 and 10, maybe 4 or 5 times a week. I used to play tennis once a week, but I kept missing my class. I want to get more into yoga this year. I think it’s important for someone my age to stay flexible. And it’s a great stress reducer. I’ve tried hot yoga, but it’s pretty tough for me. I usually feel like I’m going to pass out.
On if her daughters will follow her path in media:
Ellie is figuring it out right now. She loves to write, and she’s a very people-oriented person. She also teaches sex education and nutrition to kids in public school in New Haven. It’s part of a Youle program. She may go to law school; her dad was a lawyer. Carrie is pretty remarkable and incredibly smart as well. I don’t know what she wants to do. She’s only 16, so she has time. You want to guide them, but you don’t want to push them in a particular direction, because you want them to have the opportunity to discover for themselves what they feel passionate about.
On if her daughters tweet as much as she does:
No, they don’t. In fact, they get mortified when I do it. I think it’s hard for them sometimes to have a mother who is a public figure and that people sometimes say not very complimentary things about. Carrie follows me, and I think Ellie does too—a lot of their friends follow me, so it’s sort of fun. But they’re not super into tweeting. They do enjoy Facebook, that’s for sure.
On the buzz on her wanting to do Dancing with the Stars:
That’s so funny. I write sort of a harmless little tweet and it turns me into a “Dancing with the Stars” wannabe, which actually I am. You know, the thing about that show I just really admire people who aren’t professional dancers, and who aren’t even amateur dancers putting it out there for all the world to see. I think I said in my tweet that there’s not enough antiperspirant on the planet to help me out in that situation, but that got a lot of attention which made me laugh.
On if she’s been asked to be on Dancing with the Stars:
Well, you know I actually have been asked, which has been very flattering. Right now I don’t think it’s going to work out with my schedule; one of the major impetuses for me to do it is I think you get in incredible shape and like this lean machine; it’s a good way to lose weight, exercise, but I don’t think, unfortunately, I’ll be able to swing it. I think it would really be fun, I just don’t know honestly, I’d be shocked if I had the nerve and the strength to get out there and that’s why I really admire the people who do it.
On what viewers can expect from her new show, Katie:
My show will be premiering in September 2012. And I hope it will be sort of smart with heart…that’s what the marketing folks have called it and I actually think it’s something that I have always tried to aspire to be; you know, I’ve always tried to have a certain level of intelligence as well as have a certain level of humanity when I interact with people, so we’re going to be tackling all sorts of issues. We’re going to be talking about parenting issues; we’re going to be talking about issues facing the country, but in a very accessible, compelling way. I think that people are really hungry for information, hungry for understanding, and we’re going to try to help facilitate that. And we’re going to have a lot of fun in the process too! So it’s a tall order to be all those things, but I think it’s going to be a smart conversation with a girlfriend about things that matter to you.
On what part of having her own daytime show she’s excited about:
Having your own show is very entrepreneurial… you don’t have to go through layers of bureaucracy. It’s incredibly creative and liberating to say ‘hey, I think we should tackle kids and technology and we should do it in an hour’ or ‘I think we should have all the funny women of television come on and talk about women of comedy.’
So it’s sort of like the world is your oyster in terms of subject matter and that is just so exciting, so liberating. You don’t have to say to an executive producer ‘can we please do a story on this?’ because my executive producer, Jeff Zucker, and I are really kind of simpatico on the things that we think are interesting and important and he’s great at figuring out a way to…you know we could do a show on or a segment on fracking and make it interesting like ‘what is all the fuss about fracking and what is fracking?’ or ‘what is going on in Greece? Does anybody really understand how the Greeks got themselves in this terrible situation? And what impact does it have on Europe and the rest of the world?’ I mean I think there are a lot of topics out there that are like white noise for people, I call it…it just sort of drones on and on but nobody ever really kind of said ‘hey, this is what the situation really is and this is why it is’ in an understandable, accessible way. So that’s one of the things I hope to do.
You can read more From Prevention Magazine HERE.
Photo BY: Sara De Boer/Retna
I do Spinning and Pilates in the morning,between 8:30 and 10, maybe 4 or 5 times a week. I used to play tennis once a week, but I kept missing my class. I want to get more into yoga this year. I think it’s important for someone my age to stay flexible. And it’s a great stress reducer. I’ve tried hot yoga, but it’s pretty tough for me. I usually feel like I’m going to pass out.
On if her daughters will follow her path in media:
Ellie is figuring it out right now. She loves to write, and she’s a very people-oriented person. She also teaches sex education and nutrition to kids in public school in New Haven. It’s part of a Youle program. She may go to law school; her dad was a lawyer. Carrie is pretty remarkable and incredibly smart as well. I don’t know what she wants to do. She’s only 16, so she has time. You want to guide them, but you don’t want to push them in a particular direction, because you want them to have the opportunity to discover for themselves what they feel passionate about.
On if her daughters tweet as much as she does:
No, they don’t. In fact, they get mortified when I do it. I think it’s hard for them sometimes to have a mother who is a public figure and that people sometimes say not very complimentary things about. Carrie follows me, and I think Ellie does too—a lot of their friends follow me, so it’s sort of fun. But they’re not super into tweeting. They do enjoy Facebook, that’s for sure.
On the buzz on her wanting to do Dancing with the Stars:
That’s so funny. I write sort of a harmless little tweet and it turns me into a “Dancing with the Stars” wannabe, which actually I am. You know, the thing about that show I just really admire people who aren’t professional dancers, and who aren’t even amateur dancers putting it out there for all the world to see. I think I said in my tweet that there’s not enough antiperspirant on the planet to help me out in that situation, but that got a lot of attention which made me laugh.
On if she’s been asked to be on Dancing with the Stars:
Well, you know I actually have been asked, which has been very flattering. Right now I don’t think it’s going to work out with my schedule; one of the major impetuses for me to do it is I think you get in incredible shape and like this lean machine; it’s a good way to lose weight, exercise, but I don’t think, unfortunately, I’ll be able to swing it. I think it would really be fun, I just don’t know honestly, I’d be shocked if I had the nerve and the strength to get out there and that’s why I really admire the people who do it.
On what viewers can expect from her new show, Katie:
My show will be premiering in September 2012. And I hope it will be sort of smart with heart…that’s what the marketing folks have called it and I actually think it’s something that I have always tried to aspire to be; you know, I’ve always tried to have a certain level of intelligence as well as have a certain level of humanity when I interact with people, so we’re going to be tackling all sorts of issues. We’re going to be talking about parenting issues; we’re going to be talking about issues facing the country, but in a very accessible, compelling way. I think that people are really hungry for information, hungry for understanding, and we’re going to try to help facilitate that. And we’re going to have a lot of fun in the process too! So it’s a tall order to be all those things, but I think it’s going to be a smart conversation with a girlfriend about things that matter to you.
On what part of having her own daytime show she’s excited about:
Having your own show is very entrepreneurial… you don’t have to go through layers of bureaucracy. It’s incredibly creative and liberating to say ‘hey, I think we should tackle kids and technology and we should do it in an hour’ or ‘I think we should have all the funny women of television come on and talk about women of comedy.’
So it’s sort of like the world is your oyster in terms of subject matter and that is just so exciting, so liberating. You don’t have to say to an executive producer ‘can we please do a story on this?’ because my executive producer, Jeff Zucker, and I are really kind of simpatico on the things that we think are interesting and important and he’s great at figuring out a way to…you know we could do a show on or a segment on fracking and make it interesting like ‘what is all the fuss about fracking and what is fracking?’ or ‘what is going on in Greece? Does anybody really understand how the Greeks got themselves in this terrible situation? And what impact does it have on Europe and the rest of the world?’ I mean I think there are a lot of topics out there that are like white noise for people, I call it…it just sort of drones on and on but nobody ever really kind of said ‘hey, this is what the situation really is and this is why it is’ in an understandable, accessible way. So that’s one of the things I hope to do.
You can read more From Prevention Magazine HERE.
Photo BY: Sara De Boer/Retna
