Katie Couric opens up about temporary memory loss when she couldn’t remember what year it was

"When I was asked the month, the year, and who was president, I got them wrong." | Veteran journalist Katie Couric opened up about her experience with temporary memory loss.

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Katie Couric says she couldn’t remember the year or who was president in recent temporary memory loss episode

Sr Digital Curator

Veteran journalist Katie Couric recently opened up about a temporary memory loss episode she experienced, called transient global amnesia.

The former “TODAY” show anchor opened up about the rare experience in a Substack post on Monday.

“It was Saturday, June 27, 2026,” she wrote. “But when I was asked the month, the year, and who was president, I got them wrong.

“I wasn’t sure of the month. I thought it was 2024. And I believed Joe Biden was president.”

She described the parts of a calm Saturday morning in Colorado that she remembered: Her husband, John Molner, had left the condo where they were staying to work out. She went to a farmer’s market and bought fruit.

But then, her last memory that day was of her mother driving her to the Aspen Institute, where she was scheduled to moderate a panel and be a panelist about the future of journalism. She had done both, but Couric has no memory of them.

She was later taken to a local hospital because Couric was not feeling well. She could not remember the names of some of her grandchildren or her daughter’s boyfriend. An MRI ruled out a stroke.

She was diagnosed with transient global amnesia and was told things would go back to normal by the next day. Things did indeed go back to normal for her.

“While this was a freaky occurrence, it could have been much more serious,” Couric wrote. “So ultimately, I’m relieved – even though several hours of a Saturday in June will always be missing for me.”

What is transient global amnesia?

Transient global amnesia is a condition that “comes on suddenly in a person who is otherwise alert,” according to the Mayo Clinic. A person cannot create new memories when they’re experiencing an episode, and it most often affects individuals who are older. Fortunately, with this type of amnesia, people still know who they are and can recognize loved ones.

“It’s one of the most disturbing experiences for a patient, and especially their family members,” Dr. Laura Stein, a vascular neurologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, told NBC News. “But as a neurologist, it’s actually one of the most reassuring diagnoses to make because it’s benign.”

While the underlying cause of the condition is unknown, it may be linked to migraines, according to the Mayo Clinic.