Katie Couric becomes a grandma, welcomes her daughter’s first child

Katie Couric can add “grandma” to her list of accolades. Over the weekend, the 67-year-old journalist shared the news on her social media pages.

Couric’s eldest daughter Ellie Monahan gave birth to a son on March 23. Her husband Mark Dobrosky was by her side, and grandma and Aunt Carrie Monahan (Couric’s youngest daughter) were also at the hospital.

The newborn’s name has very special significance, as longtime followers of Couric’s work might notice. Although his full name is John Albert Dobrosky, the baby boy will be called “Jay.”

This is a nod to Ellie and Carrie’s father and Couric’s first husband, John “Jay” Monahan, who died from colon cancer in 1998. His death became a significant cultural moment, as Couric used her grief to help raise awareness about colon cancer and the importance of colonoscopies and other preventative healthcare measures.

Couric shared pictures of baby Jay in the hospital on Instagram and X, and she jokingly asked that you please don’t call her grandma:

Couric wrote about Jay’s birth on her blog, sharing the bittersweet reality that her late husband would have given anything to be there to experience the moment his grandson was born.

“They will call their baby Jay, after Ellie’s father and my late husband, which is both moving and bittersweet. Major milestones remind me of everything Jay has missed,” she writes. “Graduations, weddings, and now this. He would be so thrilled to meet his namesake.”

Ellie and Mark wed in 2021, after a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple originally met at Yale when they were both undergrads, with Ellie becoming a TV writer and Mark becoming a broker.

And, as with all things these days, Taylor Swift made an appearance in this love story. When Ellie and Mark wanted to share the news of her pregnancy with Couric, they made her a special friendship bracelet.

Couric posted an Instagram reel of the moment, along with the caption: “This is what happens when you go to a @taylorswift concert last summer and forget your friendship bracelet and your daughters say, “Don’t worry, we made one for you!” #omg #omg #omg #omg”

The bracelet read “granny to be,” and in the video, Couric slowly pieced together what was going on and then exploded with joy. Now, she has been promoted from “granny to be” to “Gogo,” which is what she has chosen for her moniker, as evidenced by the embroidered sweater she wore in the hospital.