Katie Couric is opening up about a recent stroke scare that left her with short-term memory problems.
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The journalist described what happened on a Substack post. "It was Saturday, June 27, 2026. But when I was asked the month, the year, and who was president, I got them wrong. I wasn't sure of the month. I thought it was 2024. And I believed Joe Biden was president. Let me explain," she began.
Then the last thing she remembered was visiting a hot dog stand in Aspen with her husband.
"That's the last thing I remember," she revealed. The journalist remembers nothing from her panel appearances afterward. "I have no idea what we talked about or what occurred when the panels ended."
Katie Couric Loses Her Memory
Her husband soon became concerned about Couric and took her to the hospital when she seemed out of it. Doctors thought she was having a stroke when she couldn't remember her own granddaughter. Couric "reintroduced herself to the nurses every time they came into the room."
An MRI ultimately ruled out a stroke. Doctors ultimately diagnosed her with transient global amnesia. "Which means you lost your short-term memory," Couric's doctor explained to her. "It will return tomorrow. You are safe!"
It wasn't until the next day that Couric got her memory back
"So for me, from about noon on Saturday until at least 7 p.m., what happened will stay in a big, black hole," Couric wrote. As for the exact cause, intense physical exertion, emotional distress, extreme temperature changes, or physiological strain can cause amnesia.
But Couric doesn't feel that was true in her case.
"I can say with confidence that none of those activities brought on my TGA. The cause seems to be as mysterious as the brain itself. All I know is that those hours will be forever lost. Someone described it as my brain failing to hit the 'record button.' While this was a freaky occurrence, it could have been much more serious," she concluded.
"So ultimately, I'm relieved — even though several hours of a Saturday in June will always be missing for me."
