Katie Couric's Daughters Are All Grown Up

Katie Couric is a renowned television personality, journalist, and author, celebrated for her impactful career in news media. As a mother of two daughters, she has faced both triumphs and tribulations throughout her life. The journey of raising her daughters, Elinor "Ellie" Monahan and Caroline "Carrie" Monahan, is marked by resilience, love, and a commitment to honoring the memory of their late father, Jay Monahan, who passed away from colon cancer.

Ellie and Carrie were introduced to the harsh realities of life at a young age. When their father received a terminal diagnosis, Couric had to navigate the difficult task of explaining such complex issues to her children. She aimed to maintain open lines of communication, ensuring they understood the situation without raising false hopes. This experience not only shaped their childhood but also laid the groundwork for the strong women they would become.

As the girls grew up, Katie Couric's dedication to her daughters became even more evident. Through tradition and advocacy, she instilled the values of hard work and compassion in them. Today, Ellie and Carrie have blossomed into accomplished individuals who continue to carry forward their father's legacy while pursuing their own paths. Their story is a testament to the enduring bond of family and the importance of resilience in the face of adversity.

Biography

Table of Contents

• Ellie and Carrie Monahan learned about loss early in life
• Ellie and Carrie Monahan are devoted to keeping their dad's legacy alive
• Ellie Monahan is an incredibly private person
• Got Milk? brought Ellie and Carrie Monahan into the spotlight
• Ellie and Carrie Monahan are financially independent
• Ellie Monahan is an Ivy League grad with many interests
• Carrie Monahan is an Ivy League grad with a passion for social justice
• Carrie Monahan followed in her mom's footsteps
• Ellie and Carrie Monahan were happy about their mom's engagement
• Ellie Monahan's engagement included an ode to her dad

Ellie and Carrie Monahan learned about loss early in life

Ellie and Carrie Monahan were just five and one years old, respectively, when their father, lawyer and NBC News legal analyst Jay Monahan, was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. He died the following year in January 1998, and Katie Couric was forced to figure out how to address the illness and loss with incredibly young kids. Opening up about the ordeal to Cure Today, she revealed, "I did a lot of reading about how to talk to your children about cancer and according to everything I read, it was important to be honest and to not guarantee that everything was going to be okay." So she kept it as real as she could when Ellie asked about her dad. "I said, 'Gee, honey, I really hope so. The doctors and nurses are trying so hard to help him and he’s trying so hard to get better,'" she shared, explaining, "I just did not want to raise expectations that he was gonna get through this when the prognosis was so bleak."

Following Jay's death, Couric kept the honest communication flowing. "I made sure Ellie went and talked to someone," she said, admitting, "I wish I had done more for Carrie when she had turned an age where she could understand a little bit more." She reiterated the importance of communication to New York Post, noting, "Kids are incredibly resilient, but I believe they need a place to talk freely [...] a place they can go to understand their feelings."

Ellie and Carrie Monahan are devoted to keeping their dad's legacy alive

Ellie and Carrie Monahan may have been incredibly young when their father died, but they've never forgotten him. As Katie Couric told Cure Today, "Talking to them and keeping their dad's memory alive was incredibly important to me as they aged," so she established a number of traditions for her girls. Speaking with the New York Post, Couric revealed they always celebrate Jay Monahan's birthday and, over the years, they've "sent balloons up to heaven," "read some of the letters written to the girls after Jay died," and "watched a documentary about Jay by his brother." But they don't just honor him one day a year. "We still have photos of Jay all over the place and I try to keep him alive in our day-to-day interactions," Couric told Closer in 2019.

The girls have also supported their mom's cancer advocacy, which included co-founding the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance and Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health. As Ellie recalled in a HuffPost op-ed in 2012, Couric "summoned the strength to turn my father's death into something more significant — a mission to ensure that other families don't suffer the same fate." Sharing how her "childhood was punctuated with bake sales and lemonade stands for colon cancer research," she wrote, "Being a part of this work and just witnessing my Mom's commitment has not only helped restore me to 'the dailiness of life,' it has given mine greater meaning."

Ellie Monahan is an incredibly private person

If you don't know much about Ellie Monahan, that's very much by design. The Jeopardy! guest host's oldest daughter loves her privacy and she's quite picky about what she shares with the public, and what she doesn't. In addition to keeping her online presence under the radar (her Instagram, for example, is private), mom Katie Couric told AOL in 2019 that her eldest once demanded she ask permission before speaking about her publicly. "She's actually pretty low-key," Couric told the outlet, revealing, "When she was 16 and I did an interview with a magazine, I told a story about her and she said, 'Mom, I’d really prefer that you not talk about me in public, and if you do, can you just ask me first?' I was like, 'You’re absolutely right.'

Calling Ellie "a private person," Couric added, "But I also think that she knows that if I don’t go too crazy — I’m not going to share everything! — everyone is really happy." Explaining why her daughter is happy to make concessions, she continued, "Because of my situation — her dad died when she was 6 years old — I think she understands that people care about her and wish her well and are invested in her in a really nice way. I’m happy that my daughters turned out to be such exceptional people."

Got Milk? brought Ellie and Carrie Monahan into the spotlight

They may enjoy their privacy, but Ellie and Carrie Monahan agreed to join their TV star mom for a Mother’s Day-themed Got Milk? commercial in 2013 and, as Katie Couric gushed (via E!), it was a wonderful experience because "we're very very close." Sharing why they agreed to a moment in the spotlight, Couric revealed that the ad hit close to home. Not only because "milk is really a part of our daily routine," but because "I’m sort of a mom and a dad and so I think Mother’s Day probably takes on a deeper meaning in our house."

The trio donned pajamas for the photos which show a 21-year-old Ellie and 17-year-old Carrie bringing Couric breakfast in bed with the slogan, "Even when you have the day off, you still need protein. An 8-ounce glass of milk has 8 grams of protein. A glass worth raising, even on Mother’s Day. Got milk?" The Monahan girls also shared their breakfast favorites (via People) with Carrie gushing how much she loves her mom's "cereal with lots of fruit and milk in it, and coffee with