Matt Lauer‘s formerTodayshow co-anchorAnn Curryhas spoken out about the explosive new allegation that he raped his former NBC News colleagueBrooke Nevils.
“Brooke Nevils is a credible young woman of good character,” Curry — who has said she herselfreported Lauer for sexual harassment on behalf of a colleagueshortly before leavingToday —tweeted on Wednesday. “She came to NBC News an eager and guileless 20-something, brimming with talent.”
“I believe she is telling the truth,” Curry, 62, continued. “And that breaks my heart.”
Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire/Getty
The story broke early Wednesday morning, whenVarietypublished details fromRonan Farrow‘sCatch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators.In the upcoming book, Nevils alleges that Lauer, 61,anally raped her in his hotel roomat the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
“It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” she reportedly tells Farrow in the book. “It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have anal sex.”
Nevils says in the book that she had more sexual encounters with Lauer back in New York City, according toVariety, telling Farrow: “It was completely transactional. It was not a relationship.”
Lauer, who recentlyfinalized his divorcefrom longtime wifeAnnette Roque,penned a lengthy letter in response, claiming the encounter was “extramarital, but consensual.”
Matt Lauer.Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock
In Wednesday’s letter, Lauer, who wasfiredin November 2017 due to Nevils’ complaint, 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.”
“A woman approached me and asked me tearfully if I could help her,” Curry told the newspaper. “She was afraid of losing her job … I believed her.”
Curry said the woman implored that she not reveal her name to anyone and she obliged — but she did specifically name Lauer in her conversation with management.
“I told management they had a problem and they needed to keep an eye on him and how he deals with women,” she said.
Ann Curry, Matt Lauer.Peter Kramer/NBC/Getty
Curry, who reportedly has a non-disclosure agreement with the company, declined to name the management officials she says she approached. An NBC spokesman told thePostat the time that the company has no record of her warning and said there was no mention of it in Lauer’s personnel file.
After barely a year co-hostingTodaywith Lauer, Curryleft the NBC morning showin 2012 — the same year she says she reported Lauer. Her exit was a painful ordeal that came complete with gossip-column speculation that her firing had been due in part to a lack of “chemistry” with Lauer and amid reports that he had played a part in forcing her out. (NBC sources have told PEOPLE falling ratings were to blame.)
In a statement read on-air Wednesday on theTodayshow, NBC News said, “Matt Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time. That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague.”
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 toonline.rainn.org.
source: people.com
