It might be hard to feel sorry for Katie Couric, but not everything has been roses to the perky one.
Couric took such a beating in the press after she jumped ship to CBS she started comparing herself to Hillary Clinton, a new book says.
The steep drop in popularity that followed Couric’s exit from NBC’s “Today” show in 2006 left her full of self-pity, according to author Sheila Weller.
The NY Daily News writes that, “In private, Katie — who had recently turned 50 — was now beginning to actively and repeatedly compare herself to the embattled but energized Hillary Clinton,” Weller writes in her new book — “The News Sorority: Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour — and the (Ongoing, Imperfect, Complicated) Triumph of Women in TV.”
“Katie deeply related to Hillary; she felt she was being pummeled as the first female anchor just like Clinton was being pummeled as the first major female presidential candidate,” Weller wrote.
Couric became an object of derision the moment she arrived at CBS News with a $15 million salary and celebrity attitude, the book says.
“The resentment was virtually immediate,” a CBS correspondent told Weller, according to the book, which comes out in September.
“The burden was on her,” Weller wrote. “People were waiting to see her disprove the reputation she arrived with. You’ve gotta be conscious of the fact that you’re making at least ten or fifteen or twenty times more than anybody on the show.”
“Katie can put on a charm offensive if she wants to,” the book says. “But really, she doesn’t give a s--- about you only as much as it affected her.”
Instead of taking on the “real work” associated with being a managing editor, the book says, “Katie was out doing other things.”
“She was being a star,” Weller wrote
Last week, Couric taped the last episode of her daytime talk show “Katie,” which is being yanked off the air after two seasons.
