What with the tsunami, the storms on the west coast, continuing violence in Iraq and the Inauguration, well, sometimes it's hard to keep national priorities straight. Which is why we look to the Today show -- home to "America's First Family" -- for guidance. Katie Couric heard some awful news over the weekend, apparently, and just had to know for sure if God could really have let such a tragedy happen. From yesterday morning:

---

And I actually called our newsdesk on Saturday and said: "I know that we have this tsunami going on, and--and all these people, but is it true that they broke up?"

Oh, Katie. Hold me.

Fuller transcript after the jump.

HOLT: People magazine broke the news of the split, and all the details are in the issue out on newsstands today. Larry Hackett is People's deputy managing editor.

Larry, good morning to you.

LARRY HACKETT (People Magazine): Good morning, Lester.

HOLT: Sometimes they say it's not one thing but many things that lead to a breakup. Is that thecase here?

HACKETT: Absolutely. It's a combination of things. Issues about starting a family, issues about work. And then from there issues about whether they wanted to be with one another. As you know, the piece said, they were never--they had always made mention of the fact that, 'We don't know if this is forever. We don't know if this is the only one for me.' I think the combination of that, they were in two different places. He wanted to start a family. Jennifer had issues about her career. And they just couldn't find the time to do it right now.

KATIE COURIC, co-host:

You know, Larry, I usually tease you about kind of the inordinate attention some of these stories get, but everybody I know, they were very upset this weekend about this particular breakup, because it sort of made you feel like, 'Gosh, can any marriage last?' And here they seemed really suited to each other. They were, you know, so attractive. They both seemed like very nice people. And I actually called our newsdesk on Saturday and said: 'I know that we have this tsunami going on, and--and all these people, but is it true that they broke up? I mean, so I think a lot of people are really interested particularly in them as a couple. Why do you think that's true?

Mr. HACKETT: Well, they are. Because with celebrities, people think they know them. And celebrities like this, who they really like, it's that much more acute. It's like your neighbor or your sister or your brother breaking up. That's number one. Number two is, the fact they seemed to try to make this work. And when you hear what broke them apart, issues of wanting to have a baby, issues ofwork, these are things other people can relate to.

COURIC: Yeah.