In case it isn’t clear which of the former “Today” show leading ladies Matt Lauer favors, the NBC newsman confessed to Howard Stern on Wednesday that he finds Katie Couric “very attractive.”
“Every man in America was attracted,” Lauer, 51, said of Couric, who sat beside him on the morning show from 1994 to 2006.
“She’s a very attractive woman, not only physically, but her personality,” Lauer went on to say. “If she’s a 9 or 10 physically, she’s a 14 because … she’s got a great personality. She’s fun.”
“We had a good and easy chemistry,” he explained.
In an earlier interview with Stern, the 56-year-old current ABC daytime talk queen once admitted to having a “little crush” on Lauer back when he was a local news anchor.
“I thought he was so funny, and so quick,” Couric said in May.
Despite their mutual warm feelings for each other, both anchors insist nothing ever transpired. Lauer said it “absolutely” would have ruined things.
“She would have been knocking on my door constantly,” he joked. “She would have never left me alone.”
The top rated newsman also had kind words for Couric’s replacement — Meredith Vieira, who retired from her hosting duties in 2011.
“I had a relationship with Meredith where I constantly wanted to hug her,” Lauer told Stern.
“We loved Meredith,” he added. “She was beloved by everyone on staff.”
Conveniently, Lauer didn’t have enough time on the show to give his opinion of the most recent “Today” departure — Ann Curry.
“I was just getting warmed up,” Stern said as the interview ended. “I didn’t even get up to the Ann Curry bulls–t.”
