CNN PresidentJeff Zucker just resigned over his consensual affair with a network executive.- Longtime
media personalityKatie Couric discussed Zucker's bond with Allison Gollust in her memoir.
Months before Jeff Zucker resigned from CNN over his affair with fellow network executive Allison Gollust, Katie Couric sounded the alarm on the relationship in her 2021 memoir, "Going There."
On Wednesday, Zucker announced his resignation from CNN in statement shared on Twitter by CNN's Brian Stelter. Zucker has run CNN since 2013. Gollust serves as the network's executive vice president and chief marketing officer.
But according to Couric, rumors about the media executive's close relationship with Gollust have been circling for years.
—Evan DeSimone (@MediaEvan) February 2, 2022
As Couric's longtime boss at NBC, Zucker is a major figure in her recent memoir. Zucker and Couric also worked together on the talk show "Katie." Insider's Claire Atkinson previously reported that the two fell out after Zucker quit "Katie" in 2012 to helm CNN. "Going There" delved into some of that tension, as well as Zucker's ties with Gollust.
Couric wrote that Gollust worked with Zucker at NBC and that the pair were "joined at the hip." The media personality characterized Zucker's determination to onboard Gollust to work on Couric's talk show as "a little weird," given that her show had "already hired a PR person." Couric wrote that she met with Gollust at her home in the Hamptons at Zucker's insistence.
She said she became uncomfortable with the bond between Zucker and Gollust.
"I had to wonder why Jeff was angling so hard to bring Allison on board," Couric wrote. "She and her husband and kids had moved into the apartment right above Jeff and Caryn's — everyone who heard about the cozy arrangement thought it was super-strange. By that point, Caryn had become a close friend, and it made me really uncomfortable."
Zucker and his ex-wife of 21 years Caryn split up in 2018.
Zucker's resignation surprised many CNN staffers.
"Total shock," one CNN staffer told Insider. "It's a surprise and shock to all of us," said another.
Three executives will assume Zucker's leadership responsibilities: Michael Bass, executive vice president of programming, Amy Entelis, executive vice president for talent, and executive vice president Ken Jautz.