Katie Couric has fallen for a handsome financier seven months after her split with her boy-toy Brooks Perlin, Page Six can exclusively reveal.
The perky former “Today” anchor — who launches her new show “Katie” in September — has been dating John Molner, head of mergers and acquisitions at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.
Sources tell us Couric, 55, and Molner, 49, have been dating for a few months after being introduced by friends and are “very happy together.”
The new couple made a rare public appearance at dermatologist Howard Sobel and his wife Gayle’s Water Mill home for Saturday’s Ellen Hermanson Breast Cancer Benefit. A guest told us, “Katie looked better than ever and, clearly in love, did her best to keep her relationship with John low-key. She was careful not to be photographed with him, but they were clearly together. They looked good together and other guests remarked that he seemed a more age-appropriate match.”
Many well-heeled guests ended up slipping in mud or with sodden feet following a rainstorm, but we’re told Molner chivalrously escorted Couric through the worst of it.
A witness told us, “He held her hand and put his arm around her to make sure she didn’t slip on the mud. The two went in the back door of the Sobels’ house with their feet and shoes a muddy mess, and emerged 15 minutes later in the front of the house all cleaned up. They were kissing in the driveway before driving away together.”
Mother-of-two Couric lost her husband Jay Monahan to colon cancer in 1998 and began dating Perlin, 17 years her junior, in 2006. Page Six revealed they split in December last year. Couric’s rep declined to comment while Molner didn’t get back to us.
Other guests included Edie Falco, who was seen clutching “Sopranos” star Aida Turturro’s hand to prevent slipping, Rosanna Scotto, Fern Mallis, David Burke, Aviva Drescher and Countess LuAnn de Lesseps.