Meredith Vieiraher husband, Richard Cohendied at the age of 76 after a battle with multiple sclerosis.
I Today show confirmed on Tuesday, January 7, that Cohen died on Christmas Eve after living with the disease for more than 50 years. Today show the boss Hoda Kotb shared with viewers that Cohen was “surrounded by his family and love” at the time of his death.
The family was together for Thanksgiving, Kotb continued, telling viewers they were “concerned” about losing him so early. “Instead, they get a good month with their father,” she said.
Today the hostel Savannah Guthrie said Vieira was “really happy” after Cohen’s death.
“She was a wonderful and devoted wife to Richard and loved Meredith,” Guthrie added. “And hanging out with them, they were like the funnest and funnest, most irreverent, cool couple to hang out with.”
In addition to his MS diagnosis, which Cohen received at age 25, he survived colon cancer twice.
Cohen previously revealed that he told a reporter about his MS diagnosis on their second date. The two got married in 1986.
Meredith Vieira and Richard Cohen
Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty“I told him about the illness, because I learned the hard way to put it on the table,” Cohen said in a 2019 interview. Yahoo Life. “And he really didn’t blink.”
Vieira noted that MS was “not enough” to scare him.
She spoke frankly about her husband’s illness during an interview with him People that same year, telling the publication that Cohen was “doing great.” At that time, he was also declared legally blind.
“It’s a continuous illness, so you don’t know from day to day,” said Vieira. “He needs a walker, as he has been using it for a long time and is very strong. It was something he was afraid of, but it was a blessing.”
The news of the exit of Hoda Kotb’s show Today is bitter for her editors. “I just turned 60, and it was a monumental moment for me when I turned 60 because I started thinking about that decade, like, what does that decade mean? What does it hold? What will happen to me?” Kotb, […]
The reporter noted that he and Cohen “definitely agreed to talk” during difficult times. (Vieira left Today in 2011 to spend more time with Cohen, but continued to host various TV series over the years including 25 Words or Less Game show.)
“That’s part of the deal. Of course you are allowed to go out, because you have a chronic illness. But I’m here too,” he said. “Because there are days I can’t stand it and the restrictions it puts on the whole family. It’s good to say. But we don’t stay.”
Cohen is survived by his wife Vieira, 71, and their three children, Benjamin, 36, Gabriel, 34, and Lily, 32.