NEW DETAILS: Matt Lauer Moves Out On Wife
May 13 2010, Published 1:24 p.m. ET
Matt Lauer has moved out of his family home after a huge blow-up with his wife Annette over his continued cheating, RadarOnline.com can report.
Lauer's mother-in-law Johanna Struijk (who lives in The Netherlands) said that Lauer, 52, and Annette, 44, are no longer living together, and that Annette -- like so many other show business wives -- is not wearing her wedding ring anymore.
VIDEO: David Letterman On Rebuilding His Marriage; Says Affair "Was Stupid Behavior"
“It’s OK, she is happy,” Struijk told The National Enquirer on the heels of the explosive news, making Lauer the latest tabloid cannon fodder in a six-month stretch that has already cast the light on celebrity cheaters such as David Letterman, Tiger Woods and Jesse James.
The situation came to a head when Annette accused Matt of cheating on her while covering the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia this past February.
Annette, according to an Enquirer source, knew something was up when Lauer did not return home for Valentine's Day as he had previously promised he would. Instead, the source said, he stayed behind the wintry Canadian city and got rather chummy with two local beauties.
“There was lots of drinking and Matt was seen on-and-off with two women, both of them pretty Canadian broadcasters," the source said. "He was getting very flirtatious with them, and they seemed to be enjoying it.”
- Matt Lauer's Glamorous Daughter Crashed Into Fence and Fled Hamptons Scene — but Left License Plate Behind for Cops to Find
- Disgraced ‘Today’ Host Matt Lauer ‘Was Wracked With Pain and Bitterness’ Watching Ex-NBC Colleagues Fronting Paris Olympics’: ‘Gut Wrenching!’
- Ousted News Hosts Matt Lauer and Don Lemon Join Forces to Plot TV Revenge: Report
DAILY. BREAKING. CELEBRITY NEWS. ALL FREE.
The source said that when a wife of one of Lauer’s NBC colleagues caught wind of his actions, she informed Annette, who was “fuming” and had some sharp words for the journalist when he returned home.
“She accused Matt of cheating,” the source said. “He said the Canadian women were just friends and colleagues. He made the excuse that he’d stayed longer purely for business reasons. The fighting went on for two days, and finally Matt walked out.”
According to the source, “Matt quietly split with Annette about two months ago,” but is still seeing Annette and his kids regularly to maintain his family man image, both for his kids and the public.
“Matt is trying to keep the break-up on the down low,” the source said.
Lauer is no stranger to cheating scandals, as Annette allegedly learned in 2000 of an affair he was having with a married woman in 1998, just months before their wedding. Annette, pregnant with the couple’s third child in 2006, filed for divorce with the idea she could no longer trust her husband. She had a change of heart though, and would withdraw the divorce petition just a month after she filed it.
Stay with RadarOnline.com for more on this story as it unfolds.