Katie Couric Cougar Label News and Single Mom

By: Rob Adams
Staff Writer
Published: Feb 6, 2010

CBS news anchor Katie Couric but doesn't prefer the label cougar.

Katie Couric will appear in the March issue of Harper's Bazaar, but don't call her a cougar. She conducted an interview with the magazine and doesn't want to be known as a cougar. She finds it stupid, according to the article.

"I think it also surmises that the older woman is always the pursuer. That's not necessarily true. I always say that maybe the older woman is the prey and someone else is the predator. It's just silly," she said.

Couric is dating 32-year-old Brooks Perlin, but she says the 17-year age difference is not a problem. Perlin is a New York City entrepreneur who's never been married and doesn't have children. Katie's husband, Jay Monahan, died 12 years ago of colon cancer at the age of 42.

"There are times, quite frankly, when as a single mom, you feel very alone," she tells the magazine. "Ellie was sick after Thanksgiving with a virus and strep. She had a 105 fever, and it was really terrifying. I was running around looking for a thermometer in my building at 11:30 at night, and I was getting a fan, and my doctor said, 'You should put her in a tepid bath,' and she was all bundled up, and her temperature wasn't going down, and she was shaking because she was so cold."

She says in times like that, she misses a partner. She is a single mother to daughters Ellie, 18, and Carrie, 14. She's been dating Perlin for three years.

Single Mom Gets Multimillion-Dollar Salary

Katie Couric gets a multimillion-dollar salary for hosting the CBS evening news. She is the highest paid news employee at the network with an annual salary at $15 million. Moreover, CBS has plans to keep her for many years to come.

"I am not anticipating, nor do I want to anticipate, life at CBS News without Katie Couric," said CBS chief and president Sean McManus. She will have a decision to make in May 2011 when her contract expires. However, if she does leave the network, there is a good chance that they'll go back to NBC.

She has been the subject of some anonymous grumbling by people at CBS upset at recent layoffs. The television network has 1,500 employees and is in the process of cutting jobs across the board. McManus declined to say how many people will lose their jobs, but one published report indicated that 150 jobs will be lost.

Couric remains in third place in the ratings behind NBC and ABC. However, McManus cited Couric's work including interviews with Sarah Palin, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and Alex Rodriguez. He noted that CBS has won two Dupont awards for projects where Couric was in the lead, and she is set to interview President Barack Obama live during the Super Bowl preview show.