It has been four years sinceMatt Lauerwas ousted from theTodayshow.
On Nov. 29, 2017, NBC revealed that the former anchor wasfireddue to a complaint of “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.” Since then, Lauer, 63, has “lost a lot of friends,” a source tells PEOPLE.
“People would check up on him for a while, but that’s stopped to a degree,” the source says. “He just stays to himself, he doesn’t really reach out to people very much anymore or engage them and so he’s been losing touch with a lot of people.”
Lauer’s “lavish lifestyle” also had to change, the source says. “When he left theTodayshow, he didn’t get paid a penny after he got fired. NBC stuck with that. He’s presumably sitting on mountains of money but then again, he had a lot of money in real estate.”
Matt Lauer.Brent N. Clarke/FilmMagic
Lauer was fired one month after sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein kicked off the #MeToo movement. In the four years since, Lauer has kept a low profile.
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“He only wants to talk to people who are gonna take his side,” the source says of Lauer. “He still feels like he got railroaded.”
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Details of the complaint were not made public until Oct. 8, 2019, whenVarietypublished an excerpt fromRonan Farrow’s book,Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, in which former NBC News employeeBrooke Nevilsalleged that Laueranally raped her in his hotel roomat the Sochi Olympics. Nevils told Farrow that she was “too drunk to consent” and also stated multiple times that she did not want to have anal intercourse.
In the book, Nevils also said she had more sexual encounters with Lauer in New York City, telling Farrow: “It was completely transactional. It was not a relationship.”
Matt Lauer.D Dipasupil/FilmMagic
At the time, Lauerpenned a lengthy letter in response, claiming the encounter was “extramarital, but consensual.” He said the encounter in Sochi was the beginning of his affair with Nevils and “the first of many sexual encounters between us over the next several months.”
In his response, Lauer, who pointed out what he claims are “contradictions” in Nevils' story, stated that he has “never assaulted anyone or forced anyone to have sex. Period.”
FormerTodayco-host Katie Couric recently spoke about Lauer’s scandal. In PEOPLE’s cover story last month, she saidshe was “shocked"when she learned of the allegations and called Lauer’s behavior"grossly inappropriate” and “callous.”
“And that’s not the Matt I knew,” Couric said. “There’s a duality in human beings, and sometimes they don’t let you see both sides.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.
source: people.com
