Katie Couric Reflects on Getting Remarried After Husband's Terminal Cancer Diagnosis: 'I Feel Really, Really Lucky'

Katie Couric opened up about getting remarried after losing her husband to colon cancer.

Couric spoke about grieving and moving on in an interview on Alex Cooper's "Call Her Daddy" podcast.

The 69-year-old's first husband, Jay Monahan, was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer when he was just 41 years old.

"To see someone young and healthy and smart and vibrant and loving and incredible, father and husband, suddenly facing this, what was ultimately a death sentence, was just excruciating," she shared. "And so, you know, you get through it because you have no choice. But it was horrific."

Monahan died in 1998, 11 years after the couple got married. He also left behind their two daughters, Ellie and Caroline.

The journalist said she began grieving her late husband as soon as he was diagnosed.

"I think I knew in my heart that this was a very challenging diagnosis and you know, and I think what was helpful to me is I think when something like this happens, it's so isolating," she said. "But I think, believe it or not, being a public person, I got so much support. Like, I had bins and bins full of people who had written me sympathy cards and sent me mass cards and all these things."

Couric admitted it still took her some time to move on and return to her normal life without feeling guilty. She got remarried in 2014, 15 years after her first husband's death, to John Molner.

"I remember thinking if this had happened to me, and Jay was the surviving spouse, that I wouldn't want his life destroyed too. And I think I just thought, you know, I always say we're all terminal, right," she explained.

"We all have a finite amount of time on the planet, and I wanted my children to be happy and healthy," the journalist added. "I didn't want this to destroy our entire family unit. And so I really made a decision that I was going to find joy and create a happy home life for my girls."

Couric referred to herself as a "traditional" person who prefers to have a partner within her family unit. Still, it took her a while to finally find the right person to spend the rest of her life with.

"I ended up being single for a long time and having serious boyfriends that didn't work out for one reason or another. And now I've been very happily married since 2014," she gushed.

Couric and Molner have been together for more than a decade.

"What's great about John, and I've often said this, he has never felt threatened by Jay's memory," Couric she noted. "And that is a beautiful thing. You know, he also, he says, you know, he understands there's room in my heart to hold two people at the same time. And that's a real gift, you know?"

One of the things that helped the TV star move on was refraining from looking at her relationship with her late husband through rose-colored lenses.

"I also think we idealize people who have passed away, you know, and my relationship with Jay wasn't perfect," the mother-of-two admitted. "We had challenges in our marriage and I think kind of being clear-eyed about that too, has made me, you know, made me much more receptive to being with somebody else."

Couric explained she tries not to compare Molner to Monahan.

"And to someone like John with him, I have a different relationship, but a wonderful relationship," she said. "So, I don't know, I think just all about perspective and, you know, I feel really, really lucky."