Her smile said it all. On a sunny afternoon in late May, Katie Couric and her handsome finance-exec husband, John Molner, took a leisurely stroll though East Hampton, NY, holding hands and looking more in love than ever.

The veteran newswoman even waved to an onlooker, her diamond wedding band sparkling in the sun. “Katie and John are so happy,” an insider tells Closer. “They really enjoy each other’s company, and Katie loves having a partner to come home to and have date nights with.”

Katie, 58, and John, 52, said “I Do” in the backyard of her stunning nearby home one year ago on June 21. “I just wasn’t nervous at all,” Yahoo’s global news anchor said of her wedding day. “For someone who is generally hyper, I was incredibly relaxed.” The new lightness she’s found with John has carried her through some tough times.

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On Dec. 19, 2013, it was announced that her syndicated talk show, Katie, would not return for a third season. “Daytime may not be the place to do some of the things I wanted to do,” she said at the time, “but I wanted to give it a try.” Katie faced an even bigger loss in September: “I lost my mom on Labor Day, and then my youngest daughter, Carrie, went off to Stanford [University],” she shares. “So that is a really tough transition, and it’s been wonderful for me to have someone so great and strong by my side.”

Katie’s current contentment was 17 years in the making. Her first husband, Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer in 1998 at age 42, leaving Katie with two small daughters to rear on her own. “I think about him all the time,” Katie revealed to Closer, adding, “We still have photos of Jay all over the place and I try to keep him alive in our day-to-day interactions. I honored him by raising two pretty great kids who have a lot of him in them.” In fact, Ellie, 23, and Carrie, 19, have always been her main focus. She even put off marrying John until Carrie was out of high school.

To read the full story on Katie, pick up the new issue of 'Closer Weekly' on newsstands now!