Matt Lauer Accuser Brands Disgraced 'Today' Anchor a 'Monster' and Recalls Alleged Rape in Disturbing Tell-All – 'It Hurt to Remember'
Matt Lauer's rape accuser's new memoir details the shocking alleged rape.
Jan. 28 2026, Published 7:20 p.m. ET
Matt Lauer’s accuser is recalling her alleged rape at the hands of the disgraced Today anchor in a new memoir, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Brooke Nevils' memoir, Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame and the Stories We Choose to Believe, details the alleged 2014 assault, which is said to have occurred in Russia during the Sochi Olympics.
Brooke Nevils Details Alleged Rape at Hands of Matt Lauer
Lauer was accused of raping an NBC staffer during the 2014 Olympics.
Nevils, who was working as an NBC talent assistant for the Sochi Olympics at the time, had been drinking with Lauer's co-worker and her "longtime boss and mentor," Meredith Vieira, when Lauer joined them, according to an excerpt from her upcoming book posted by The Cut.
After she found herself "drunk and alone," Nevils claims Lauer "insist[ed] on having a--- s--" in a "spinning room" with her body "unsteady" and her mind "blurred [and] frantic."
"I would never have used the word 'rape' to describe what happened [next]," Nevils writes. "Even now, I hear 'rape' and think of masked strangers in dark alleys. … It would take years – and a national reckoning with sexual harassment and assault – before I called what happened to me assault."
Nevils states that at the time she had "no idea what to call what happened other than weird and humiliating. But then there was the pain, which was undeniable. It hurt to walk. It hurt to sit. It hurt to remember."
'He's Going to Do It Again'
Several other women would come forward with their own allegations against the 'Today' anchor.
"If anyone else had done this to me, I would have gone to the police," she recalls thinking at the time.
Lauer and Nevils would have another encounter, as she writes, she realized, "He's going to do it again. Because that has been the plan all along. … I should have thought, 'He's a monster.’ Instead, I thought, 'You brought this on yourself.'"
She claims in the memoir: "In the months that followed, there would be four more instances. … Once Matt summoned me to his dressing room and I went; two other times I ended up there in the course of my day-to-day job."
In 2017, Nevils filed a complaint to NBC against the longtime Today personality, as several other women would come forward as well with shocking claims of their own.
Lauer was fired by NBC in 2017 and hasn't been seen on the small screen since.
Lauer, who was still married to ex-wife Annette Roque at the time of the allegations, was fired just 24 hours later and dumped. He later claimed the encounter with Nevils was consensual.
Nevils' life was rocked by the alleged rape, as she writes, "Now that life was gone, and I barely recognized the train wreck I'd become. I was compulsive, paranoid, and drinking all the time. I felt I'd ruined everything, hurt and embarrassed everyone I loved."
She adds: "Soon I would find myself in a psych ward, believing myself so worthless and damaged that the world would be better off without me."
Despite being off the small screen for nearly 10 years, Lauer, now 68, is said to be hoping to make a comeback following his shunning.
Matt Lauer's Comeback?
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The 68-year-old claimed the encounter with Nevils was consensual.
According to previous reports, Lauer had some "promising conversations" with the streaming bosses and podcast owners he's been trying to charm over lunch in the Hamptons.
"While no deals have materialized, Matt's most lucrative option right now is to tell his side of the story," a source previously said.
The insider added: "Publishers have shown a keen interest – especially if he's willing to call people out, which he absolutely is. Love him or hate him, Matt's seen it all... He's got so much dirt that will make for compelling reading."
At the moment, Lauer is not close to making his return.
