Katie Couric

Credit: Evan Agostini/AP

Katie Couric Scratches at Her Cougar Label

Originally posted 06/01/2009 08:15PM

The annual Class Day address at Princeton University requires a speaker with a flair for comedy. But before she even began on Monday, Katie Couric feared the joke was on her, courtesy of Mother Nature.

"It was quite an honor, although slightly daunting to follow in the footsteps of Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and Jerry Seinfield," Couric, 52, says. "At the precise moment I got up to walk to the podium ... a hawk dropped its half-eaten lunch – a dead bird – in front of me. It landed with a thud."

But then the CBS Evening News anchor jumped right into her irreverent speech that offered a not-so-subtle dig at Sarah Palin "I've been called a cougar lately ... but today ... I'm very happy to be an honorary Tiger instead!" she said, referring to the school's mascot. "Coming here was a real no brainer! After all, I can see New Jersey from my house!"

On a more serious note, she offered some words of wisdom. "Don't be a hater," she said. "Princeton has taught you to think critically, to approach things with a healthy dose of skepticism ... and that's a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say. ... Rise above the collegial nastiness and instead celebrate excellence."

Credit: Dana Edelson/NBC

Music News

Why Justin Timberlake Dropped His Robe for Beyoncé

Originally posted 01/28/2009 12:00PM

Justin Timberlake took matters into his own hands when it came to convincing Beyoncé he could pull off the musical skit when she was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live Nov. 15.

Dropping into her dressing room, Timberlake also dropped his bathrobe – revealing himself in a leotard as he stared blankly into space.

"I can't look anywhere but your face right now," Timberlake, on a CBS pre-Grammy show to air next week, told interviewer Katie Couric about Beyoncé's reaction to his display, the Associated Press reports.

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Credit: Courtesy CBS

POLL: What Do You Think of Katie Couric's New 'Do?

Originally posted 12/02/2008 12:35PM

Now you see it, now you don't – Katie Couric's hair, that is.

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Credit: Scott Wintrow/Getty

Katie Couric: Cancer 'Destroyed My Family'

Originally posted 08/27/2008 02:35PM

Losing her husband and sister to cancer "obliterated" Katie Couric's dream for a happy and intact family. Now she's doing everything she can to fight back and spare others the same pain.

In between raising her two daughters – Ellie, 17, and Carrie, 12 – and anchoring the CBS Evening News, she's teamed up with a group of powerhouse women to create Stand Up to Cancer, a landmark, star-studded fund-raising special airing on Sept. 5 on NBC, CBS and ABC.

"[Cancer] completely destroyed my family twice. My husband, Jay, died when he was 42 and our daughters were 6 and 2," Couric tells PEOPLE exclusively in this week's issue. "Three years after that, my sister, Emily, who had ironically read the eulogy at my husband's funeral, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer."

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Good Deeds

Katie Couric Joins Bette Midler in Sing-Along

Originally posted 05/23/2008 11:30AM

Two children of the '60s – Bette Midler and Katie Couric – got down and dirty, and pretty groovy, for Midler's fundraiser for the New York Restoration Project, which the Divine Miss M established in 1995 to help green up the city. The goal: to plant one million trees in the five boroughs by 2017.

"To walk under the branches of a tree that you have planted connects you to the roots of our past and the aspirations of our future," Midler says of the project.

And speaking of roots, she and Couric – who introduces their appearance in this video – dug deep into their adolescent pasts for a song medley they delivered sing-along style at the gathering earlier this week: Petula Clark's "Downtown," the Beatles' "When I'm 64" and, from the American tribal rock musical Hair, "The Age of Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine." Peace.
– Stephen M. Silverman