Katie Couric is missing about seven hours from her memory after a freak medical episode that caused a sudden lapse.
The legendary journalist, 69, shared a Substack post Monday titled “The Day I’ll Never Remember” in which she opened up about recently being hospitalized after she was diagnosed with transient global amnesia, also known as a sudden and temporary loss of memory.
“This was a freaky occurrence, it could have been much more serious,” Couric wrote in the post, according to USA Today. “Ultimately, I’m relieved — even though several hours of a Saturday in June will always be missing for me.”
The 60 Minutes alum and her financier husband John Molner were at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado when Couric said that she blacked out from “about noon” until “at least 7 p.m.” She said, “What happened will stay in a big, black hole.”
Couric said the last thing she remembers is grabbing lunch at a hot dog stand before going on to speak at two panels that day. Although she participated in the event, she said she has “no idea what we talked about, or of what occurred when the panels ended.”
Molner, who contributed to the Substack post, said that he did not notice anything unusual about Couric’s performance at the panels, but thought she “appeared weak and dizzy.” However, as they left, Molner realized that “Katie was definitely not all there.”
The couple went to an Aspen hospital, where the situation became even more concerning when Couric appeared confused about basic facts.
“When I was asked the month, the year, and who was president, I got them wrong,” Couric wrote. “I wasn’t sure of the month. I thought it was 2024. And I believed Joe Biden was president.”
Couric also could not remember having a three-week-old granddaughter, and she forgot the name of her daughter’s boyfriend.
The doctor then told the nurses to “initiate stroke protocol” on Couric, Molner wrote, adding that she reintroduced herself to the nurses each time they entered the hospital room.
However, after an MRI showed no signs of a stroke, Couric was diagnosed with transient global amnesia. Molner described the scary experience as “a very weird neural episode that’s pretty uncommon and, at least in most cases, is a ‘one and done’ experience.”
The presenter said the medical episode might have been caused by altitude, dehydration, stress or exhaustion. However, as she wrote, “the cause seems to be as mysterious as the brain itself.”