In the whirlwind of early-morning broadcasts, where the sun barely crests the horizon before headlines start flying, Tony Dokoupil is the steady hand at the helm of CBS Mornings. With his quick wit, probing questions, and that easy Connecticut charm, he’s the guy who can pivot from grilling a CEO on Wall Street woes to unpacking the latest Supreme Court drama without missing a beat. But on a sun-dappled June morning in 2023, as Father’s Day loomed just days away, Tony stepped out of the studio spotlight and into something far more personal—a quiet plea for pause in a life that’s anything but.

It was an exclusive chat with PEOPLE magazine, tucked away from the cameras and cue cards, where Tony laid bare his simplest, most heartfelt wish. No exotic getaways. No lavish brunches. Just this: “Everyone sit down, slow down, quiet down and hang around on the couch for a minute.” At 42, the co-anchor—who juggles live segments with the likes of Gayle King and Nate Burleson—was dreaming of a day unspooling like an old family reel: lazy afternoons with his kids, no agenda, no alerts pinging from his phone. In a world that demands constant motion, Tony’s confession hit like a soft exhale, reminding us all that the real MVPs of fatherhood aren’t the ones chasing perfection—they’re the ones chasing presence.

From Pirate’s Son to Morning Anchor: A Father’s Shadow Looms Large

To understand Tony’s wish, you have to rewind to the man who shaped him—or, more accurately, the one who upended everything. Born Anthony Dokoupil Sr. wasn’t your average dad. In the freewheeling haze of the 1970s and ’80s, he was “the last pirate,” as Tony would later title his 2014 memoir: a high-seas marijuana smuggler who captained boats laden with contraband from Colombia to the U.S., evading Coast Guard cutters and raking in millions. Tony grew up idolizing this rogue figure, piecing together a childhood from letters and legends while his father dodged federal indictments and built a fortune in the shadows.

By the time Tony was a teen, the pirate’s empire had crumbled—bust by the DEA, scattered to the winds. What remained was a son left to navigate the fallout: a mother who taught school to keep the lights on, a family fractured by secrets, and a burning drive to rewrite the script. Tony hustled through Columbia University, then into journalism’s trenches at Newsweek and The Daily Beast, chasing stories that peeled back America’s underbelly. MSNBC followed, then CBS in 2016, where he traded investigative deep dives for the morning show glow-up in 2019. Along the way, he penned The Last Pirate, a raw reckoning with his dad’s double life—not just the thrill, but the toll: the absences, the lies, the lingering question of what fatherhood could have been.

Today, at 44, Tony’s flipped the narrative. He’s father to four: two teens from his first marriage, living vibrantly in Tel Aviv with their mother, and two little dynamos with his wife, MSNBC’s Katy Tur—Eloise, now a spirited 6-year-old with curls that bounce like her mom’s determination, and Theodore (Teddy), 7, the pancake-devouring whirlwind who’s all energy and endless curiosity. Blended families across oceans? Tony makes it look seamless, hopping time zones for soccer games in Israel one week, playground romps in Manhattan the next. But beneath the logistics, that old pirate’s echo lingers—a reminder that time with your kids isn’t something you smuggle; it’s something you savor.

The Wish in Action: A Day of Dough and Downtime

Back in 2023, as Tony shared his Father’s Day dream, he wasn’t just venting. He was blueprinting. With Eloise at 2 and Teddy barely 4, the couple’s Upper West Side apartment was a glorious mess of sippy cups and storybooks. Katy, the no-nonsense anchor who’d chronicled her own chaotic upbringing in her 2022 memoir Rough Draft, was all in. “We’re building memories they’ll thank us for one day,” Tony said, eyes lighting up at the thought. No grand gestures—just the good stuff: homemade pancakes stacked high with blueberries, a marathon of Moana on repeat, and maybe a backyard picnic if the New York humidity played nice.

He delivered on it, too. Photos from that weekend leaked out like treasures: Tony in a faded Star Wars tee, flour-dusted from breakfast duty, hoisting Teddy onto his shoulders while Eloise “helped” stir batter with a wooden spoon twice her size. The older kids FaceTimed in from Israel, sharing laughs over virtual charades. Katy captured it all on her phone—not for Instagram, but for the family album. “Pancakes are my love language,” Tony joked later on CBS Mornings, during a segment with fellow dad co-hosts Vladimir Duthiers and Nate Burleson. “They eat ’em, they ask for more, and suddenly it’s not work—it’s magic.”

That ethos stuck. Fast-forward to Father’s Day 2024, and Tony doubled down. With the kids a year wiser (and louder), he declared Sundays “outdoor oases.” Pack a lunch, hit Central Park, let the agenda dissolve into tag and trail mix. “I’m on a kick where Sundays are for unplugging,” he told HELLO! magazine. No cell phones buzzing with breaking news—just the rhythm of little feet on gravel paths. Vlad nodded along in their chat, admitting his own traditions were still budding, while Nate beamed about his NFL-inspired games with his boys. For Tony, it was therapy: a deliberate unplug from the 5 a.m. wake-ups and the endless scroll, reclaiming hours his own father never could.

Blending Worlds: Love, Logistics, and Lessons from Afar

Fatherhood for Tony isn’t a solo voyage—it’s a fleet. His teens in Tel Aviv, now 15 and 13, are deep into their own adventures: bar mitzvahs, beach volleyball, the kind of teen independence that tugs at a dad’s heartstrings from 5,000 miles away. He flies over quarterly, turning visits into epic quests—hiking the Golan Heights, devouring falafel in Jerusalem’s Old City. “They’re my anchors,” he says, voice catching just a touch. Co-parenting across continents? It’s Zoom calls at odd hours and care packages stuffed with New York Knicks gear. But the payoff is profound: those kids, bilingual and bold, remind him daily that family defies borders.

Then there’s the home front with Katy, married since 2017 in a low-key ceremony that felt like a exhale after their whirlwind courtship. She’s the fire to his steady flame—fierce in the field, tender in the nursery. Together, they’ve crafted a bilingual bubble: Teddy’s picking up Slovenian phrases from Katy’s roots (wait, no—Katy’s American, but they mix in Hebrew from Tony’s side and French from her travels). Eloise, the mini-investigator, trails her mom around the kitchen, “reporting” on cookie dough quality. And when deadlines clash? Grandparents swoop in, or the CBS family steps up—Gayle with her legendary hugs, Nate with backyard BBQs.

Tony’s open about the juggle: the guilt of missing a school play for a segment, the joy of surprising Teddy with a “news desk” made from cardboard. “One day, our children will thank us,” he mused in a 2025 feature, reflecting on raising them screen-smart in a hyper-connected world. No TikTok tantrums here; instead, family movie nights where The Last Pirate gets swapped for Finding Nemo. It’s intentional, this slowing down—a direct rebuke to his dad’s high-stakes hustle.

The Anchor’s Anchor: Why Tony’s Wish Resonates Now More Than Ever

In 2025, as Tony co-hosts the newly expanded CBS Mornings Plus—that third-hour gem launching fresh takes on everything from AI ethics to backyard astronomy—his Father’s Day philosophy feels prophetic. The world’s louder: algorithms dictating dinner debates, news cycles spinning faster than ever. Yet Tony’s the guy interviewing Bill Gates on philanthropy one minute, then ducking out to coach Teddy’s T-ball swing the next. His 2024 dust-up with Ta-Nehisi Coates over Israel-Palestine? It sparked headlines, but off-air, he doubled down on family as his north star.

Fans eat it up. Social media lights up with clips of Tony’s “Uplift” segments—heartwarming hits like unplugged school pep rallies or Constitution deep dives—because they sense the authenticity. “He’s the dad we all aspire to be,” one viewer tweeted after his 2024 Father’s Day chat. Another: “From pirate kid to pancake king—Tony’s rewriting the rules.”

And rewrite he does. This June, as Father’s Day circles back, expect more of the same: a couch fort empire, perhaps a new tradition of storytelling circles where Tony spins yarns from his memoir, minus the smuggling ships. Katy’s hinted at a third— “We’re open to chaos,” Tony laughed—but for now, it’s about deepening the roots with the four he’s got.

Slow Down, Dads: The Quiet Revolution Starts at Home

Tony Dokoupil’s wish isn’t revolutionary—it’s restorative. In an era of hustle porn and highlight reels, his call to “quiet down” is a radical act of rebellion. It’s the dad who trades the TED Talk for bedtime stories, the anchor who drops the mic for morning snuggles. From the boy who chased his father’s ghost to the man building his own legacy, Tony proves fatherhood’s true adventure isn’t outrunning the storm—it’s dropping anchor in the calm.

So here’s to the Tonys everywhere: May your pancakes rise high, your Sundays stretch long, and your wishes come true—one quiet couch moment at a time. Because in the end, the best stories aren’t broadcast—they’re lived, loved, and passed down.