Katie Couric has no memory of serving on two panels, eating a coveted hot dog, or arriving at a hospital in Aspen, Colorado, after a “freaky” episode last month, she revealed Monday.
And the veteran journalist is not likely to get the memories back. Couric was diagnosed with transient global amnesia after being evaluated for a stroke, she wrote in a Substack post detailing the incident, with help from husband John Molner.
“It was Saturday, June 27, 2026,” Couric began. “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.”
Couric had crystal-clear recollections of her morning walk to the local farmers’ market, and everything she’d bought. She remembered choosing a white linen suit for her participation on two panels at the Aspen Ideas Festival that afternoon. And she recalled Molner’s anticipation of a hot dog lunch as he drove her to the festival venue. But she doesn’t remember savoring the hot dog.
To onlookers, the veteran journalist came off as completely normal as she moderated a panel on AI with futurist Amy Webb and served with Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Dean Jelani Cobb and two others on another panel, “Journalism’s Next Chapter,” with zero incident. But gone are her memories of fellow panelists Aaron Parnas and Jerusalem Demsas, as well as Webb.
“I remember nothing from either panel,” Couric recounted. “I have met Jelani and know Aaron a bit, but right now, I couldn’t pick Amy or Jerusalem out of a lineup. I have no idea what we talked about, or of what occurred when the panels ended.”
Couric then handed the virtual mic to Molner, who filled in some of his wife’s blanks.
“The audience enjoyed it, and I noticed nothing unusual in the conversation or Katie’s role,” he wrote. “Frankly, she was great as always.”
But minutes after he stepped outside the conference room while she interacted with attendees, “one of the interns tracked me down and told me Katie wasn’t feeling well,” he wrote. They returned to find Couric sitting on a bench, an EMT and a doctor taking her vitals.
At first, Molner thought his wife was dehydrated and feeling the effects of the 7,900-foot altitude, so he brought her home to rest. But it soon became apparent that something was off, and they went to the ER at Aspen Valley Hospital. There, Couric could not recall the month, date, year or who was president. Not even family members escaped the memory lapse, which led doctors to initiate stroke protocol. Tests showed she hadn’t had a stroke.
Couric continued to ask the same questions over and over again, which led to her TGA diagnosis, a temporary inability to create new memories, according to the Mayo Clinic. While the bulk of her memory had returned by the next day, those hours have not, Couric wrote.
“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. “While this was a freaky occurrence, it could have been much more serious. So ultimately, I’m relieved — even though several hours of a Saturday in June will always be missing for me.”