After getting fired amid a sexual misconduct scandal, Matt Lauer has plans to return to the spotlight.
“Matt Lauer is still clamoring for a comeback,” a source exclusively reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now, noting that the former broadcast journalist, 64, “no longer feels” shame about the scandal.
According to the insider, Lauer is eyeing a podcast deal now that he knows his television career “is over.”
The source also noted that the New York native “has been dating” since his divorce from Annette Roque. The former couple, who were married from 1998 to 2019, share sons Jack, 21, and Thijs, 15, and daughter Romy, 18, who are now “more accepting” of their father’s upcoming professional plans.
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 the TV personality’s departure from NBC, journalist Ronan Farrow published new details about the alleged assault in his 2019 book Catch and Kill. The former news anchor, who denied the allegations in the past, later addressed Farrow’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.”
In the lengthy essay, 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, tweeting 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.”
For more on Lauer’s plans to return to the spotlight, watch the video above and look for the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
