No list of trailblazing women in news media would be complete without Meredith Vieira.
But it wasn't an easy road to stardom for the broadcast journalist.
She faced many struggles throughout her life, all while bringing joy to millions, over her
decades-long career.
This is the tragic life of Meredith Vieira, and why she hasn't given up hope.
Suffering multiple miscarriages
In his book Chasing Hope: A Patient's Deep Dive into Stem Cells, Faith, and the Future,
Vieira's husband Richard Cohen revealed that the former TV personality struggled to conceive
a child.
In fact, she suffered four miscarriages in the late '80s.
During a 2019 appearance on Today, Vieira opened up about what she called the quote
"funny side of [her] infertility" experience, saying,
"I never had trouble getting pregnant but I always had trouble holding onto pregnancies."
After her third miscarriage, her doctor recommended that she take progesterone suppositories,
but he made a simple mistake: he assumed she knew how to use them.
After using the meds in what she thought was the usual suppository way, she went back to
the doctor to clear up the confusion.
"I said, I'm sorry to be ignorant, but I don't quite understand how putting these suppositories
in my rear end is going to help me get, keep pregnancy."
She recalled,
"He said, 'What are you talking about?
They go in your....'
Which I didn't know.
And then I started doing that and then I did have a child."
Despite the heartbreak of those initial miscarriages, Vieira says she shares her story in the hopes
of helping others.
She added,
"For those of you going through stuff, know that I have gone through it too and it's the
lighter side of infertility."
The couple went on to have 3 beautiful children together, who have grown up to be just like
their mom.
Her daughter Lily once described Vieira, saying,
"She will call me a hundred times and assume that I've died if I haven't answered after
the first ring."
Considering you have to be fully hair and makeup ready by 6:00 a.m., it's safe to say
that hosting a morning news show is a serious grind.
And for Vieira, that harsh schedule took a toll.
"I have two drinks here, one is coffee, and one is moonshine."
Revealing that she had to be at the studio at 4:30 a.m. every day, she told Good Housekeeping,
"Matt [Lauer] would say to me, 'Look, you're leaving your home around 4:30, so get up at
4.'
But I couldn't do that - I'm the kind of person, I have to go to check that BlackBerry.
I can't go to work feeling like I am ill-prepared."
In reality, Vieira woke up at 2:30 a.m. every day on the job.
But her drive to be ready to rock had enough of a physical and psychological impact that
she eventually decided to leave the show.
She added,
"Sleep deprivation is a bad thing.
When you're tired all the time, you just don't feel well.
It's easy to gain weight; it's easy to get depressed.
And there's anxiety.
[…] All of those things really started to weigh on me, and I thought, 'Is it worth risking
my health?
I don't think so.
Is it worth altering my lifestyle, particularly with my husband?'
I clearly knew the answer: No, it's not."
During a 2014 episode of The Meredith Vieira Show, the former broadcast journalist opened
up about surviving an abusive relationship when she was younger.
Compelled to come forward by the Twitter campaigns "Why I Stayed" and "Why I Left," Vieira told
her audience,
"I wanted to explain to you why I stayed."
She went on to describe her abusive relationship, revealing,
"I loved this guy - it started out when we'd have a fight and he'd just sort of grab my
arm.
I didn't think a lot about it, and then it turned into pushing me against the wall and
then it went beyond that to actually taking his hand and grabbing my face and saying,
'I could ruin your career if I wanted to and no one would want you.'"
"I was scared of him.
And scared if I tried to leave, something worse could happen to me."
Vieira explained that she stayed in the relationship out of "fear" and also "guilt."
Then one night, she claims he assaulted her then threw her into their apartment hallway
- without any clothes on her body.
Vieira eventually broke free of the relationship and moved to another state.
She said,
"We didn't have shelters when this was happening to me, there was no hotline.
[…] When people talk about domestic violence it is really, really a complicated issue.
It's not so easy to just get away.
You think it would be but it is not."
"Tell somebody what's going on.
Let somebody know."
Vieira's husband, veteran journalist Richard Cohen, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
at 25.
His father and grandmother also suffered from the disease, according to a 2019 interview
with Yahoo Lifestyle.
He explained,
"I dropped a coffee pot for no reason.
I fell off a curb for no reason.
I noticed a little numbness in my leg.
I was very active physically and I thought I was really beating it.
I was living in denial."
"I was diagnosed when I was 25 years old and essentially told there is no hope."
Cohen lived with the illness for ten years before meeting Vieira, and told her about
it immediately.
"He told me on our second date, and he did it because he wanted to give me the opportunity
to leave, if I was uncomfortable with this."
Instead, Vieira didn't flinch.
Although Cohen initially tried to keep his diagnosis hidden from everyone else, he now
speaks to others who have recently received an MS diagnosis, to offer practical advice
and emotional support.
He says,
"You don't have to be controlled by it.
I look at our three kids, I look at our relationship, I've written four books […] what do I have
to complain about?"
During an interview with People, Vieira explained that the couple deals with Cohen's illness
by communicating openly about its effects on their relationship, but that they choose
not to be consumed by it.
She added,
"So many people are dealing with stuff and it puts it into perspective."
In addition to suffering from MS, Cohen was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1999.
Although he went into remission after several surgeries, his cancer came back.
Vieira told ABC News,
"He went into himself like I've never seen.
I think he was a much angrier man.
That second surgery carried with it a lot of stuff afterwards, the recovery period.
He had to have a bag.
[…] He felt humiliated."
However, after his second remission, Cohen changed his outlook and became a college lecturer,
writing about his experiences, and collaborating with the MS Society.
Despite the constant hardships they face as a couple, they've found a secret weapon to
help them cope: a sense of humor.
Vieira said,
"Even at the worst, right after the second colon cancer, we always found something to
laugh about.
[…] We just made jokes.
And we still do.
It's what gets you through."
"You just gotta keep going, you know, and uh…”
“Sometimes you just fake it, you know, like oh, everything's ok, you know?
Fake it til you make it."
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