Matt Lauer had a feeling he was going to be fired from NBC’s Today during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November.
‘This is going to be my last parade,’ the disgraced anchor was reportedly overheard telling a co-worker on November 23.
Just six days later, Lauer was dropped by NBC following a ‘detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace’.
Lauer, 60, was ousted from his job as the longest-running morning show anchor on network television and the highest paid, taking home an annual salary of $25million prior to his termination.
Matt Lauer had a feeling he was going to be fired from NBC’s Today during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in November
‘This is going to be my last parade,’ the disgraced anchor was reportedly overheard telling a co-worker on November 23. Lauer is pictured during the 91st Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2017
NBC said the incident of misconduct that led to his firing started when Lauer and a network employee were stationed at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and continued beyond that assignment.
A source told PageSix that since his termination, Lauer ‘goes between sadness and acceptance of his fate, to disbelief how it all happened so quickly and how the situation was so out of his control’.
Lauer’s firing came six weeks after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke and according to the source, Lauer ‘was already being investigated by Variety magazine, but at that point, nobody knew what they had got on him’.
‘The Times was calling around, saying they were doing a piece on the culture of the Today show, and The Enquirer was asking about settlements paid to female staff members who had affairs with Matt,’ the source told PageSix.
According to the NBC source, no one at NBC News ‘had any idea’ that Lauer ‘was preying on younger staffers’ at Today.
It wasn’t until Lauer’s first accuser came forward the weekend after Thanksgiving that Lauer’s colleagues found out about the alleged acts of sexual misconduct.
‘She told them [her lawyers] she had a sexual relationship with Matt during the Sochi Olympics in 2014, and it continued when they returned to New York,’ the insider told the news site.
‘She was a very junior staff member at the time so there was a clear issue of balance of power.’
Just six days later, Lauer was dropped by NBC following a ‘detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace’
Lauer’s firing came six weeks after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke and according to the source, Lauer ‘was already being investigated by Variety magazine, but at that point, nobody knew what they had got on him’. He’s pictured with his wife Annette Roque in 2013
The source said the woman provided ‘irrefutable evidence’ believed to be a naked photograph of Lauer. And the accuser also claimed ‘that she wasn’t the only woman he’d done this tom,’ according to PageSix.
On November 28, when Lauer was fired, the source claims that he had ‘no idea that this would turn out to be his last day on the show’.
By the afternoon, Lauer’s lawyers were meeting with NBC’s legal department.
During those discussions, ‘Matt was at first unapologetic, defending himself,’ claims the source.
‘He claimed he’d had three consensual affairs in the 25 years at Today.’
On November 29, Lauer’s co-hosts, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, were made aware of Lauer’s termination.
‘This is a sad morning here at Today and NBC News,’ said a tearful Guthrie while revealing the news at the start of the popular morning show.
Guthrie then read the letter that NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack had sent to employees just moments before, which stated that Lauer’s alleged offense may not have been an ‘isolated incident’.
‘We learned this moments ago, just this morning. As you can imagine, we are devastated. And we are still processing all of this,’ said Guthrie said on November 29.
Guthrie maintained her composure throughout the opening segment despite tearing up at times, and at one point was clutching on to co-host Hoda Kotb.
Roque, who Lauer has been married to for 19 years, forced him out of the estate where they live with their three children last weekend, according to Page Six. The Sag Harbor home is pictured
It wasn’t until Lauer’s first accuser came forward the weekend after Thanksgiving that Lauer’s colleagues found out about the alleged acts of sexual misconduct. He is pictured in September 2015 on the show
‘Hoda, I mean, you know, for the moment, all we can say is we are heartbroken. I’m heartbroken for Matt. He is my dear, dear friend and my partner. And he is beloved by many, many people here,’ said Guthrie at the time.
‘And I’m heartbroken for the brave colleague that came forward to tell her story and any other women who have their own stories to tell.’
Shortly after Lauer released a statement saying he was ‘truly sorry’.
According to the source, Lauer is also ‘angry because he certainly wasn’t the only person in TV doing this, but he has taken the fall’.
The source said the woman provided ‘irrefutable evidence’ believed to be a naked photograph of Lauer (pictured with his wife)
Earlier this week, Lauer was reportedly kicked out of his $36 million Hamptons compound by his wife.
Annette Roque, who Lauer has been married to for 19 years, forced him out of the estate where they live with their three children over the weekend, according to Page Six.
A source close to the family said Lauer is staying at a home nearby so he can be close to the two kids who still live at home. His oldest son attends a boarding prep school.
This move comes months after multiple women came forward to accuse the disgraced anchor of inappropriate sexual behavior.
Last week, Lauer’s former co-anchor Ann Curry spoke about her time on Today for the first time, saying their was a culture of verbal sexual harassment on the NBC morning show.
In addition to his North Haven compound, Lauer and his wife own a 40-acre horse farm in Water Mill and a 25-acre Sag Harbpor estate which thyey have been trying to sell for $14.9 million after first putting the house on the market for $18 million in 2016.
Roque lives in the North Haven home with the couple’s three children, while Lauer would travel out for the weekends and spend the week in an Upper East Side apartment.
That residence is in the same building as the penthouse where disgraced banker Bernie Madoff lived with his wife Ruth.
Though the Dutch bombshell has yet to file for divorce from Lauer, Page Six reports that it will likely happen soon. The couple are pictured together left in 2012 and right in 1993
This all changed when he was fired from Today, and for the past two months he has been living with his family in North Haven.
Since the allegations of sexual misconduct, broke Lauer has been working tirelessly to save his marriage, a source told Page Six.
Roque is reportedly being ‘very cold’.
Lauer’s representatives have not yet said if the couples are formally separated, but Roque was seen meeting with divorce lawyers in New York last month.
Lauer was accused of sexually harassing an unnamed former intern while they covered the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
After the initial allegations a number of women came forward with similar allegations.
The scandal could be the last straw for Roque – who filed for divorce from Lauer back in 2006.
At the time she cited ‘mental abuse, extreme mental and emotional distress, humiliation, torment and anxiety’.
But she eventually withdrew the filing when he offered her a post-nuptial agreement and millions of dollars.