US TV host Meredith Viera’s husband Richard Cohen dead after 50-year health battle

Two TV hosts broke the news on-air that one of their longtime colleagues had lost her husband of almost 40 years.

US journalist and TV host Meredith Vieira’s husband, Richard Cohen, died on Christmas Eve. He was 76.

Her network colleagues Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie announced the news on the US Today show yesterday, with the former sharing that Cohen was “surrounded by family and love” when he died.

Kotb noted that Vieira and Cohen’s three children, Benjamin, Gabriel and Lily, had been “concerned they were going to lose him early” while together for Thanksgiving.

“Instead,” Kotb said, “they got a glorious month with their dad.”

As for how Viera, 71, is feeling, Guthrie assured viewers that the former Today show co-host — whom she described as “such a beautiful and devoted wife” — is “in good spirits.”

Meredith Vieira and her husband, Richard Cohen.

She added, “Richard … adored Meredith. And hanging out with them, they were, like, the most fun and entertaining, irreverent, cool couple you could hang out with.”

Vieira, who has not posted to her Instagram account since September 2024, has yet to issue a statement on the loss.

Page Six reached out to her rep for comment.

Cohen was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 25 before meeting Vieira, and he opened up about his health struggles on their second date.

The duo tied the knot in June 1986.

Vieira, at left, was a morning show host for years.

During their marriage, Cohen battled colon cancer twice — first in 1999 and again in 2000.

The writer referred to chronic illness as “a family affair” in his 2018 memoir, Chasing Hope: A Patient’s Deep Dive into Stem Cells, Faith, and the Future.

He wrote, “Spouses have the burden of tending to the needs of a loved one, even when they would secretly rather push him out a window. I knew they should not be treated as spectators when they are in the ring with us.”

The Today hosts announce Richard's death on-air.

In September 2019, Vieira told People that she and her husband supported each other amid his health issues by both “allow[ing] each other to vent.”

She noted, “Certainly he’s allowed … because he’s got chronic illness. But I am too. Because there are days I can’t stand it and the limitations it puts on the entire family. It’s good to say it. But we don’t dwell.”

Cohen was also an Emmy-winning journalist, best known for his time as a senior producer for CBS News and CNN.

This story originally appeared on Page Six and is republished here with permission.

Originally published as US TV host Meredith Viera’s husband Richard Cohen dead after 50-year health battle