Meredith Vieira and late husband Richard Cohen were each other’s biggest supporters throughout their decades-long marriage.
Cohen had already been battling multiple sclerosis for 10 years when he met Vieira in 1982 after being diagnosed with the chronic neurological disorder when he was 25 years old. “I dropped a coffeepot for no reason. I fell off a curb for no reason. I noticed a little numbness in my leg,” he told Yahoo Lifestyle in March 2019. “It hit my eyesight fairly quickly, but other than that, I was very active physically and I thought I was really beating it. I was living in denial.”
Despite his health struggles, Cohen and Vieira fell in love and went on to welcome three kids. “It’s one of those clubs you don’t wanna join, but when you’re part of it, you realize there are amazing people who are within that community,” Vieira said of her husband during a September 2019 appearance on The View. “And I really do believe that when you’re given, that’s the card you’re dealt, you deal with it. And he’s amazing.”
The pair were married for 38 years when Cohen died at age 76 in December 2024. Hoda Kotb announced the news on Today in January 2025, revealing that Cohen was “surrounded by his family and love” at the time of his death.
Meredith Vieira’s Husband Richard Cohen Dead at 76 Following MS Battle
Scroll down to look back at Vieira and Cohen’s sweet love story:
1982
In March 2019, Vieira told Yahoo Lifestyle that she and Cohen “went toe-to-toe” from the start of their relationship, saying, “I thought two things: ‘What a jerk,’ and then my second thought was, ‘I’m going to marry this guy.’”
Cohen noted that he informed his future wife of his MS diagnosis on their second date. “I sort of learned the hard way to get it on the table,” he stated, noting that Vieira “didn’t blink” at the revelation.
1986
The couple said “I do” four years after they met.
1989
Cohen and Vieira became parents with the birth of their eldest child, son Benjamin.
1991
They pair welcomed their second child, son Gabriel.
1993
Their family continued to grow with the birth of their daughter, Lily.
May 2011
Vieira announced her decision to leave her hosting role on NBC’s Today in order to spend more time with her family. “I was extremely torn because I love it here,” she said in a press conference at the time. “But I had personal issues that were weighing on me and I felt that I really needed to examine them closely and make a decision based on them.”
She added: “I went back and forth and back and forth. It was really at the last minute that I had to go with my gut, and I know that it’s the right thing, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”
December 2011
“I think that it’s important to ask for help when you need help, that you have friends that care about you,” Vieira said when asked to share advice for families dealing with MS on an episode of Anderson Live. “In the beginning, I thought, ‘Boy, is that putting a burden on other people?’ But that’s what friends are for, literally. And I’m never shy if we need any kind of help, and I think it’s great for the kids to be able to talk to people, as well.”
She continued: “And maintaining a sense of humor. I mean, I think that’s what’s kept us going through a lot of this. As best you can, just to always look at the bright side when you can find it.”
Cohen chimed in to add: “I think we’ve learned that illness is a family affair, and they have a lot at stake in this, also, and need nurturing and need help getting through it. And it really works best when you do it as a unit because you support each other.”
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April 2014
Vieira took to social media to reveal that her husband was hospitalized with a “blood clot in his leg that had partially gone to his lungs.”
In a follow-up tweet, she thanked fans for their “kind thoughts and prayers” and joked that “Richard is feeling better and already flirting with the nurses!” (Cohen previously battled colon cancer in 1999 and 2000.)
May 2018
“For Richard to write a book, he’s legally blind and he only has the use of one hand. So, imagine somebody, every day, about 6 a.m. till about 8 p.m. at night, face pressed to the computer, typing with one hand,” Vieira said on Today while discussing Cohen writing his fourth book, Chasing Hope. “And I would say, ‘Why don’t you just talk into a mic, and it will all get transcribed?’ And Richard was very clear to point out, ‘That’s not how I write. That’s not how I create.’ So, that’s why when I said last night I respect him, I admire him — and we do as a family — but I’m in awe of him.”
September 2019
“We definitely allow each other to vent,” Vieira told People of how she and Cohen handled tough times. “That’s part of the deal. Certainly he’s allowed to vent, 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.”
She continued: “You can think, ‘Why us?’ but then it’s like, ‘Why not us?’ So many people are dealing with stuff and it puts it into perspective. … Richard is a very funny person, and I have a good sense of humor, so that’s sort of our thing.”
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January 2025
News broke that Cohen died on Christmas Eve in December 2024. Kotb explained on Today that the couple’s kids reunited around Thanksgiving because “they were concerned they were gonna lose him early.” Instead, they got to spend a “glorious month” with Cohen before his death.
Savannah Guthrie noted that Vieira was in “really good spirits” before praising her for being “a beautiful and devoted wife” to Cohen. “And he adored Meredith,” she said. “They were, like, the most fun, entertaining, irreverent, cool couple you could hang out with.”
