The woman whose accusations of sexual harassment against Matt Lauer led to his firing from “Today” has made it clear the relationship was anything but a consensual affair.
Ronan Farrow has spoken to the as-yet-unnamed woman for his explosive new book, “Catch and Kill,” as The Post reported.
She has made the difficult decision to come forward and name herself in the book as she recounts her relationship with Lauer.
We revealed in March that the woman was actually the ex-assistant to Lauer’s former “Today” co-anchor Meredith Vieira.
While her relationship has been characterized in the past as an “affair” by NBC sources, her lawyer Ari Wilkenfeld told The Post: “At no point in time did I say or do anything to encourage NBC to downplay my client’s allegations. We clearly indicated an absence of consent.”
NBC — whose news chief, Andy Lack, has called Lauer’s alleged behavior “reprehensible” and “appalling” — declined to comment on this.
Lauer and the woman — who subsequently rose to the role of a “Today” producer — embarked on a relationship starting at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.
She went to NBC chiefs about the affair on Nov. 27, 2017.
Lauer was sacked the next night after NBC News chairman Lack went over to his Upper East Side apartment to fire him.
An NBC source with knowledge of the situation told us earlier this year: “This was not a fling; it was an affair. She went and complained and Matt was fired. He admitted it when Andy confronted him.”
The producer no longer works at NBC, it is believed.
Following Lauer’s firing, Wilkenfeld said in interviews that his client had “detailed egregious acts of sexual harassment and misconduct by Mr. Lauer” in a meeting with members of NBC News’ human resources and legal departments.
Wilkenfeld said NBC News “acted quickly and responsibly” in investigating the claims and firing Lauer.
Meanwhile, as we reported, a group of women with fresh claims of sexual harassment against Lauer will also speak out for the first time in Farrow’s book.
It’s not yet known how many women have spoken on the record for the book, but The Post reported Lauer has hired a team of high-powered lawyers ahead of its publication on Oct. 15.
There are believed to be new allegations, as a source said: “A number of women with new claims spoke with Ronan.” In a statement, Farrow’s publishers, Little, Brown and Company, declined to comment on the matter but told us that they are “extremely proud of the important reporting in ‘Catch and Kill,’ which has been meticulously fact-checked and vetted.”
In 2018, Lauer released a statement in which he said: “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. 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. 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.”
Reps for Lauer have declined to comment.
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