Katie Couric is reflecting on the “sexist angle” her former coanchor Bryant Gumbel displayed whereas working collectively on the At the moment present.
“He acquired mad at me as a result of I used to be doing one thing on maternity depart and he was giving me infinite s–t for taking a month or two off,” Couric, 67, shared throughout the newest episode of Invoice Maher’s “Membership Random” podcast. “I used to be having my first child, and he was like, ‘Why don’t you simply drop it within the discipline and are available again?’ or one thing like that.”
She added, “He was kidding, however he was goofing on me and giving me lots of s—t and it was emblematic of a type of, extremely sexist angle.”
Whereas Couric went on to reward Bryant for his “seamless” and “eloquent” broadcasting expertise, she additionally known as the journalist a “prickly” particular person and a particular “man’s man.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Bryant for remark.
Bryant started engaged on At the moment in 1982, with Couric becoming a member of him in 1991. She welcomed her first daughter, Ellie, with late husband Jay Monahan, lower than one 12 months later. (Couric and Monahan welcomed their second daughter, Carrie, in 1996. Monahan died of colon most cancers two years later. He was 42.)
Couric and Bryant labored collectively till 1997 when Bryant exited the NBC sequence to work for CBS. Couric ultimately adopted go well with, turning into the primary feminine anchor for CBS Night Information in 2006.
Couric’s current feedback about Bryant should not the primary time she’s been candid about sexism within the office. Throughout a 2018 discussion board in regards to the state of ladies int he office, Couric recalled coping with “gross” feedback on the job, together with having her wardrobe critiqued publicly when she started internet hosting CBS Night Information and a gathering at CNN the place an govt mentioned Couric is “profitable due to her onerous work, intelligence and breast dimension.”
Couric famous that as a substitute of letting the remark go, she wrote to the unnamed govt when then known as her, “dripping with apologies.”
She added that whereas she’s been “lucky by way of not being subjected to lots of sexual misconduct” she has additionally been “subjected to broadly held attitudes about girls, about compartmentalizing girls.”
Couric’s different longtime At the moment cohost was Matt Lauer, who was terminated from NBC on November 29 after a colleague accused him of sexual misconduct within the office, allegations he has since denied. Whereas chatting with Maher on “Membership Random” about her time with Lauer, Couric claimed that broadcast information was a “very completely different setting.”
“A number of fraternization,” she mentioned, “a well mannered approach of claiming interoffice schtupping.”