Matt Lauer was fired from Today amid a sexual misconduct scandal — but where is he now after being forced out of the public eye?
Lauer joined Today in 1994 and became one of the hosts three years later. He was fired from the show in November 2017 after being accused of sexual misconduct. A female staffer claimed that Lauer acted inappropriately when they covered the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, three years earlier. Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie announced his firing on-air and went on to take his place as the show’s cohosts.
“I have made no public comments on the many false stories from anonymous or biased sources that have been reported about me over these past several months. I remained silent in an attempt to protect my family from further embarrassment and to restore a small degree of the privacy they have lost,” Lauer said in a statement to The Washington Post in 2018. “But defending my family now requires me to speak up. I fully acknowledge that I acted inappropriately as a husband, father and principal at NBC.”
He continued: “However I want to make it perfectly clear that any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false.”
Amid the fallout, Lauer’s then-wife, Annette Roque, filed for divorce in July 2019. The pair, who share three kids, have since finalized the proceedings and Lauer has been dating Shamin Abas amid a possible public return.
“They’re very much on,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in 2024. “He wants to show that he’s in a stable relationship. He’s not a playboy. He has a stable life.”
The insider said Lauer is focused on “building the foundation for a comeback.”
“He’s not going off into the sunset,” the source added. “He is on good terms with his kids, which was the most important thing for him. This was not always the case post-divorce but now he’s good with the kids.”
Keep scrolling to see where Lauer is now:
What Was Matt Accused of and How Did the Investigation End?
Lauer’s career made headlines in November 2017 when he was fired from NBC amid a sexual misconduct scandal. At the time, a female colleague accused him of inappropriate behavior during the network’s coverage of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, three years prior.
Following his departure from NBC, journalist Ronan Farrow published new details about the alleged assault in his 2019 book, Catch and Kill.
Did Matt Speak Out at the Time?
Lauer issued a statement after his firing.
“There are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain I have caused others by words and actions. To the people I have hurt, I am truly sorry. As I am writing this I realize the depth of the damage and disappointment I have left behind at home and at NBC. Some of what is being said about me is untrue or mischaracterized but there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed,” he said in a statement to Us at the time. “I regret that my shame is now shared by the people I cherish dearly.”
What Was Matt’s Response to Ronan’s Claims?
“On October 9, 2019, I was falsely accused of rape,” Lauer wrote in a blog post on Mediaite in May 2020. “This accusation was one of the worst and most consequential things to ever happen in my life, it was devastating for my family, and outrageously it was used to sell books.”
Lauer claimed that his past interactions with his accuser Brooke Nevils were “consensual, yet inappropriate.” He also admitted he felt “shaken, but not surprised” by his former coworkers’ lack of support amid the public drama.
“The rush to judgment was swift. In fact, on the morning I was falsely accused of rape, and before I could even issue a statement, some journalists were already calling my accuser ‘brave’ and ‘courageous,’” he continued. “I was also disappointed, but not surprised, that Ronan Farrow’s overall reporting faced so little scrutiny.”
Farrow, for his part, slammed Lauer’s comments about his reporting being “too good” to be true, writing via X at the time, “All I’ll say on this is that Matt Lauer is just wrong. Catch and Kill was thoroughly reported and fact-checked, including with Matt Lauer himself.”
Where Is Matt Now?
After a break from the spotlight, a source told Us that Lauer was “still clamoring for a comeback” and he “no longer feels” shame about the scandal. Two years later, another insider confirmed Lauer hadn’t ruled out a TV return.
“He’s started to talk to people,” a source shared. “He’s planning his next act, still very upset with how he was portrayed, and still feels like he was the victim.”
The insider told Us that Lauer “wants to get back into the media,” adding, “He wants to be relevant again; what that is exactly is yet to be decided. He went from being the biggest guy out there, and now every headline [attached to him] is ‘disgraced;’ it’s very painful for him to go out there with his girlfriend. He’s very thin skinned — don’t expect an apology, he’s the one who feels is owed an apology.”
When Did Matt Last Make a Public Appearance?
Lauer was spotted at the December 2023 wedding of former show producer Jennifer Long in New York City. He also reunited with several of his former coworkers at Don Lemon and Tim Malone‘s wedding reception in 2024.
Lemon, for his part, later said he believed Lauer could make a successful comeback.
“I think that if he could come back to digital, he can set his own course,” he explained on the “Hollywood Raw Podcast With Dax Holt and Adam Glyn” in January 2025. “But I only got to know Matt after, you know, the whole situation happened. Whenever I see Matt out and about or, you know, even with us, if we go out to dinner, my husband go out to dinner with him and his fiancée and people love him. Women love him. They’re like, ‘Man, oh my God, can I get a picture? I love you. I miss you on television.’ Right?”
After getting to know Lauer off screen, Lemon showed him support. “I think the public loves him. The public misses him, but it’s just the … it’s the people inside the business who are afraid of,” he added. “Maybe there is a way that he’ll come back, but I think it’s more of the people who are inside of the business who are concerned about, you know, what happened with Matt.”
Lemon concluded: “I think the public … I’ll put it this way. I think the general public would accept — just me — would accept Matt back. And I think people would watch him and I think the ratings would be great.”
