Matt Lauer Knew Rape Claim Was Coming: Disgraced Ex-‘Today’ Anchor In ‘Utter Despair’
Oct. 9 2019, Updated 5:33 p.m. ET
WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT BELOW
Matt Lauer has been rocketing between “blissful arrogance” and “utter despair” since first learning that a new bombshell book containing explosive allegations he raped a former Today staffer was set to be released, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.
As RadarOnline.com reported, Variety published excerpts of an interview Ronan Farrow — author of the upcoming expose Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators — conducted with Brooke Nevils.
In 31-year-old Farrow’s interview with ex-NBC employee Nevils, she claimed Lauer, 61, lured her into his hotel suite during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, after she was drunk off six shots of vodka. He then, she alleged, anally raped her as she objected and cried.
According to an insider, Nevils’ claims didn’t come as a surprise to Lauer.
"He wasn’t blindsided,” the insider told RadarOnline.com, noting, “Matt hasn’t been himself for six months, but he goes through waves of blissful arrogance and utter despair.”
NBC canned Lauer in the fall of 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct first arose.
The disgraced anchor has struggled in his efforts to make a comeback ever since.
"All of Matt’s leads for new jobs have gone up in smoke,” the insider revealed, adding that Lauer’s reputation has taken such a hit since the scandal first broke that “he can hardly get a table at his favorite restaurants in Manhattan anymore.”
And Lauer’s former Today colleagues aren’t exactly rushing to his defense now that Today has again been thrown into “crisis mode at the top,” a source told RadarOnline.com.
Savannah Guthrie “has been the loudest voice in the room in regards to how she wants to cover the story,” noted the source. “She was pushing the bosses to let her do it.”
After Today ran a segment on Wednesday, Oct. 9, covering Nevils’ allegations, Guthrie, 47, called the story “shocking and appalling.”
“It’s just very painful for all of us at NBC and who are at the Today Show,” Guthrie said, adding she and her colleagues fully support Nevils.
Hoda Kotb, 55, also revealed the depth of her shock as she processes the “horrific” allegations of a possible crime, noting: “You feel like you know someone inside and out, and then all of a sudden a door opens up and there’s a part of them you didn’t know.”
Lauer has detailed his own recollections of the events concerning Nevils in an open letter sent to Variety.
He said that while he did, in fact, have an “extramarital affair with Brooke Nevils in 2014,” it was entirely “consensual” and lasted several months.
“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 wrote, in part, referencing Nevils’ allegations.
“The story Brooke tells is filled with false details intended only to create the impression this was an abusive encounter. Nothing could be further from the truth. There was absolutely nothing aggressive about that encounter,” Lauer continued. “Brooke did not do or say anything to object. She certainly did not cry. She was a fully enthusiastic and willing partner. At no time did she behave in a way that made it appear she was incapable of consent. She seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do. The only concern she expressed was that someone might see her leaving my room. She embraced me at the door as she left.”
That day, Lauer claimed, marked the beginning of their alleged affair and “was the first of many sexual encounters between us over the next several months.”
Afterwards, Lauer, who insisted he is only guilty of “terrible judgment,” said Nevils visited him at his New York City apartment, went out to drinks with him, kept in touch with him via phone and text, and even once had sex with him in his dressing room at NBC’s headquarters.