Katie

Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller A no-holds-barred account of the rise—and dramatic stumble—of a media icon. In this probing portrait of a struggling news queen, bestselling author Edward Klein rips away the mask that has hidden the many faces of Katie Couric: the strong, independent woman and the needy wife and lover; the grieving widow famed for her kindness to others and the fiercely competitive diva; the consummate television interviewer and the stumbling network anchor. Drawing from scores of interviews with people who have never spoken openly about Couric before, Katie: The Real Story absorbingly chronicles Katie’s rise to the top—from her early days at CNN to her nightly spot on CBS. You’ll read about: Katie and her husband, Jay Monahan: “Jay had come to believe that the only thing that stood between Katie and divorce was her fear of negative publicity.” Katie’s diva behavior at CBS: “A technical problem left Katie standing without a script. . . . As soon as the red light on the top of the camera went off, she screamed. One of the executives said, ‘Just a minute, Katie; the reason you make $15 million a year is to carry off these little glitches like a pro.’” Katie and her parents: “She constantly sought [their] approval, but . . . [they] were better at telling her what she had done wrong than what she had done right.” Katie and Matt Lauer: “Matt had privately told several executives at NBC that he would quit his job if they signed up Katie for another four years.”