Former NBC personality Matt Lauer says his silence has been a mistake, and two years after his termination, he has written an open letter responding to recent rape claims made by former NBC News employee Brooke Nevils.
In a new book, Nevils claimed that Lauer raped her in a hotel room back in 2014, while the network was covering the Sochi Olympics in Russia. Nevils said she was working with ‘Today’ co-anchor Meredith Vieira at the time. However, Lauer says that the rape allegations made by Nevil in Ronan Farrow’s book ‘Catch and Kill,’ couldn’t be much further from the truth.
In Lauer’s letter published by The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday, he mentions that the allegations being spread are, “Part of a promotional effort to sell a book. It’s outrageous. So, after not speaking out to protect my children, it is now with their full support, I say ‘enough.’”
Lauer continues his letter by admitting that he had an extramarital affair with Brooke Nevils in 2014. He writes, “It began when she came to my hotel room very late one night in Sochi, Russia. We engaged in a variety of sexual acts. We performed oral sex on each other, we had vaginal sex, and we had anal sex. Each act was mutual and completely consensual.”
Lauer says that Brooke did not do or say anything to object and that, “She certainly did not cry. She was a fully enthusiastic and willing partner,” he adds, “The only concern she expressed was that someone might see her leaving my room.”
The former Today host goes on to say that he ended things the wrong way with Brook. He states, “I admit, I ended the affair poorly. I simply stopped communicating with her.” He adds that it doesn’t give her the right to make false accusations against him, though.
Lauer claims that Nevil’s story is filled with contradictions while listing a number of points, including:
“• She says I was the one pursuing the relationship, yet once it was over, she was the one calling me asking to rekindle it.
• She says she felt pressure to continue the affair because I had control over her career, but she did not work for me, the Today Show, or NBC News.
• She said she wanted to remain anonymous, yet she was reportedly trying to sell a book within year after filing her complaint.”
As you may recall, Nevils reported Lauer to NBC execs, and he was eventually fired over the alleged sex assault. Nevils was put on medical leave in 2018 and was later paid more than $1 million by the network.
Lauer was previously one of NBC’s top on-air personalities and started anchoring the Today show in 1997. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he was also one of the network’s highly paid hosts, having signed a two-year, $20 million contract in 2016.
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