Katie Couric on a ‘Today’ Return: “I Would Be Happy at Times to Contribute” (EXCLUSIVE)

Talk show host Katie Couric is excited to return to NBC. Although she will only come back briefly for the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, SK, on Feb. 9, Katie is already talking about possibly returning to Today.

“I would be happy at times to contribute,” she tells Closer. “I’d certainly pay a visit every now and then if they asked.” How exciting!

She adds that Today’s current hosts, Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie, have nothing to worry about. “I did it for 15 long years and really loved it, but it’s nice to pass the torch,” she told Closer at an event for her National Geographic series, America Inside Out With Katie Couric, on Jan. 13. This will be Katie’s fourth time co-hosting the opening ceremonies. “I do think the Olympics are unique in that it transcends politics,” she says.

The 61-year-old left her job co-hosting Today on NBC in 2006 to anchor the CBS Evening News and is now producing her own projects. She previously opened up about her former co-host Matt Lauer’s abrupt firing from the show and revealed she had no idea what was going on when she was there or after she left.

“The whole thing has been very painful for me,” Katie, 61, confessed to People in a previous interview. “The accounts I’ve read and heard have been disturbing, distressing, and disorienting and it’s completely unacceptable that any woman at the Today show experienced this kind of treatment.”

She added, “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. I really admire the way Savannah and Hoda and the entire Today show staff have handled a very difficult situation.” It’s so nice to see Katie still supporting Today after all this time.

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