Katie Couric reveals diagnosis of temporary memory-robbing condition

Veteran journalist Katie Couric revealed that she suffered a bout with transient global amnesia, a rare condition that suddenly robs people of nearly all of their memories even while they maintain self-awareness. The former “Today” show anchor recounted a scary day two weeks ago when she couldn’t name the year or who resided at the White House. “It was Saturday, June 27, 2026. But when I was asked the month, the year, and who was president, I got them wrong,” Couric wrote on Substack. “I wasn’t sure of the month. I thought it was 2024. And I believed Joe Biden was president.” The 69-year-old Couric recalled she was in Aspen and spent the morning at a farmer’s market where she scored iced coffee, peaches, nectarines, a bag of kettle corn and “a cute straw hat I really didn’t need.” But when husband John Molner drove her to the Aspen Ideas Festival later that day, Couric said she went blank. The condition impacts between 3.4 to 10.4 people per 100,000 per year, according to the National Institutes of Health. But for people 50 or over, the rate of transient global amnesia jumps to 23.5 to 32 per 100,000 per year, the NIH said. “Patients typically present with a sudden onset of memory loss lasting several hours, featuring retrograde and pronounced anterograde amnesia,” according to the federal agency. “Patients retain self-identity and demonstrate no neurological or cognitive deficits. They remain cooperative and can name objects, with no history of trauma or epilepsy. Symptoms last between 1 and 24 hours, typically occurring later in the day rather than after waking,” the NIH said. The threat of repeated attacks is minimal, but not impossible. “Once resolved, the symptoms of transient global amnesia rarely recur, the NIH added.