Matt LauerandMeredith Vieirahad a close relationship throughout their years working onTodaytogether, but that changed in the wake of the allegations that led to his firingin 2017.
“Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieiranever spoke againsince his firing,” a source tells PEOPLE.
Vieira, 65, who worked alongside Lauer for five years before leavingTodayin 2011,played an important partin bringing allegations of sexual assault against her co-anchor to light.
Ronan Farrow’s upcoming bookCatch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predatorsincludes an interview with Vieira’s former assistant and NBC News employee Brooke Nevils, who claims Laueranally raped her in his hotel roomat the 2014 Sochi Olympics, an allegation which Lauerhas denied.
Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty; Noam Galai/WireImage
According toVariety, which published an excerpt from the book, Nevils ultimately decided to report the allegation with Vieira’s encouragement.
While Nevils saidseveral people knew of her relationshipwith Lauer, she didn’t disclose the full details or escalate the situation until she confided in Vieira — who immediately told her to take action, according to Farrow’s excerpt.
At Vieira’s urging, Nevils reported her ordeal to NBC executives in the fall of 2017, in the wake of theHarvey Weinsteinscandal,Varietyreported. After Lauer was fired, Nevils went on medical leave in 2018 and was eventually paid “seven figures,” Farrow writes, according to the outlet.
In response to the allegation, Lenner penned a lengthy letter toVariety, claiming that the encounter in Sochi was the beginning of his affair with Nevils, calling it “extramarital, but consensual.”
“At no time, during or after her multiple visits to my apartment, did she express in words or actions any discomfort with being there, or with our affair,” he said. “She also went out of her way to see me several times in my dressing room at work, and on one of those occasions, we had a sexual encounter. It showed terrible judgment on my part, but it was completely mutual and consensual.”
Matt Lauer.Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Nevils went on to slam Lauer’s open letter later, calling it a “case study in victim shaming.”
“I am not afraid of him now,” Nevils added. “Regardless of his threats, bullying, and the shaming and predatory tactics I knew he would (and now has) tried to use against me.”
Vieiraopened up to PEOPLElast month about learning the news of Lauer’s firing, calling the moment “like a gut punch.”
“I was [in L.A.] and my phone started going off at 4 a.m,” she said. “I didn’t know what to make of all of it. It was a shock.”
Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire/Getty
She said the news was especially painful given her close relationship with her former colleague.
“Matt and I were very close,” said Vieira. “He was very kind to me. We both have similar senses of humor. We’re both sarcastic.”
As for the state of her relationship with Lauer at the time of the interview, Vieira said, “It’s so complicated.”
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
