The award-winning journalist says she was also “gaslit” out of an interview with Hillary Clinton.

Katie Couric recalls getting pushed out of Lady Gaga 60 Minutes interview that she pitched: ‘It made me crazy’

The award-winning journalist says she was also "gaslit" out of an interview with Hillary Clinton.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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June 24, 2026 6:07 p.m. ET

Katie Couric in November, 2025; Lady Gaga on April 20. Credit:

- Katie Couric recounted a frustrating experience during her time at *60 Minutes*.

- The Emmy-winning journalist says she was pushed out of an interview with Lady Gaga that she pitched before the singer became a global sensation.

- "Talk about getting gaslit," Couric told *Call Her Daddy* host Alex Cooper.

Despite her accolades and ground-breaking career, Katie Couric wasn't always thrilled with the way she was treated at CBS.

In particular, the Emmy-winning journalist recently opened up to *Call Her Daddy* host Alex Cooper about a frustrating experience she had while working at *60 Minutes*, when her idea for an interview with Lady Gaga was handed over to another reporter.

During the sit-down, Couric noted that becoming a part-time correspondent at *60 Minutes* was a dream come true, but said she ran into some difficulties because an unnamed executive with the program didn't love working with her.

"The head of* 60 Minutes *at the time — I think maybe because he wasn't really consulted about bringing me over," said Couric, who had moved to CBS from NBC News and the *Today *show three years prior. "I was sort of seen as somebody from a different network coming in and sort of muddying the waters. I hadn't come up in the CBS system. So I don't know, he just didn't like me."

Couric in in New York on June 3.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

That sentiment, she says, made it difficult for her to pitch stories — including an idea she had to interview a certain budding pop star in 2009.

"I always felt like *60 Minutes* was a little behind on like, big cultural moments," Couric told Cooper. "I said, 'There's this incredible singer and I think she's gonna be the next Madonna. She's so interesting. She went to Catholic school, but she's so outrageous and she's huge and she's got, you know, a huge number one song. I think we should do a profile of this person: Lady Gaga."

Couric indicated that the pitch came on the heels of Gaga's first number one single, "Just Dance." Unfortunately, the idea was rejected with producers telling Couric, "It's just not for us."

But flash-forward one year later — after Lady Gaga continued her success with "Poker Face," "Papparazzi," and "Bad Romance"; after her iconic 2009 *Rolling Stone* cover; and after she's turned heads with her memorable MTV Video Music Awards meat dress — the* 60 Minutes* producers came a-calling.

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Couric was surprised to learn they were suddenly interested in revisiting her idea: "I was like, 'Okay, well she's kind of overexposed now,'" she recalled thinking. "And I thought, you know, wouldn't it be nice to get somebody right as they're about to pop instead of a year later?"

Still, Couric had an idea to put a fun spin on the interview, suggesting that they speak to the nuns who taught Gaga at her Catholic high school, Sacred Heart on New York's Upper East Side, as a "juxtaposition of her background and this outrageous singer she's become."

Couric was excited. But that soon subsided when she noticed what was written on the CBS whiteboard where stories are listed alongside their assigned correspondents. She recalled walking over to see that it read, "'Lady Gaga, Anderson Cooper.'"

Lady Gaga on '60 Minutes' in 2010.

At that reveal, podcast host Alex Cooper did a double take, prompting Couric to laugh. "I know," she said. "It made me crazy."

Couric noted that the Gaga interview wasn't the only one she lost to another correspondent. She said that, years later, *60 Minutes* asked her to do a profile of then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"I said, 'That's awesome. Maybe I can really focus on the work she's doing for women and girls all around the world,'" Couric recalled thinking. "Suddenly my producer's saying, 'The State Department called. They're very confused because Scott Pelley and his team were calling about Hillary.'"

Couric continued, "So I go to [then-executive producer] Jeff Fager and I say, 'I thought you wanted me to do Hillary. You told me explicitly that you wanted to assign that story to me.' And he said, 'Yeah, we decided to change things up.' It made me insane."

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Lamenting her frustration over the twin situations, Couric said she was particularly annoyed about the changes going down "behind [her] back."

"Like, without even the decency to call me and say, 'Guess what? We decided to reassign the story, and this is why,'" she said. "Talk about getting gaslit. I mean to me, that is the definition of it."

Couric ultimately spent five years with* 60 Minutes*, leading segments that explored pop culture, politics, and beyond. She additionally became the first female solo anchor of a national weeknight news broadcast following the 2006 launch of *CBS Evening News With Katie Couric* after her years as a host on NBC's *Today* show. Plus, she eventually got the chance to join Gaga for her 2011 ABC special, *A Very Gaga Thanksgiving*.

See Couric recount her frustrating *60 Minutes *experience and more above.

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