Like many women, Katie Couric too has been the target of sexual misconduct.
As the #MeToo movement continues to grow, the veteran TV journalist appeared on Thursday at Procter & Gamble's Cincinnati headquarters to speak at the #WeSeeEqual forum about the state of women in the workplace. There, she recalled facing sexism and "gross" comments during her career.
She recalled how her clothing was critiqued publicly when she began hosting CBS Evening News. She also said that early in her career, when she walked into a meeting at CNN, an executive said of her to others around the table, "She's successful because of her hard work, intelligence and breast size," according to multiple reports.
Couric did not name the person. She said that with support from her supervisor, a male anchor, she wrote to the executive and he soon called her, "dripping with apologies."
"I've been very fortunate in terms of not being subjected to a lot of sexual misconduct, but certainly I have been subjected to widely held attitudes about women, about compartmentalizing women," Couric said.
At the forum, Couric was also asked about her former colleague Matt Lauer, who was fired from NBC News and the Today show in November due to sexual harassment allegations. She said she had been unaware of the misconduct allegations that led to his termination.
"I had no idea this was going on during my tenure or after I left," Couric had told People in January, which marked her first detailed remarks about the controversy. "I think I speak for many of my former colleagues when I say this was not the Matt we knew. Matt was a kind and generous colleague who treated me with respect. In fact, a joke I once made on late-night television was just that, because it was completely contrary to our brother-sister relationship. It's still very upsetting."
"The accounts I've read and heard have been disturbing, distressing and disorienting," she told the magazine. "And it's completely unacceptable that any woman at the Today show experienced this kind of treatment."