What you need to know
Matt Lauer is eyeing a possible return to professional life eight years after he was fired from the Today show.
Sources tell PEOPLE that the former TV anchor, who was fired from NBC in November 2017 after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment, is “doing well in his personal life” and “would like to return to the media scene in some capacity, if not television.”
“He talked about it with some people,” the source said.
Taylor Hill/Film Magic
In November 2017, NBC fired Lauer after a former network employee, later identified as Brooke Nevils, reported that Lauer sexually harassed her. Several other women have since made similar accusations.
In Ronan Farrow’s 2019 book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, Nevils claimed that Lauer raped her at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The former anchor claimed that all encounters were consensual.
The source added that Lauer, 67, lives exclusively in the Hamptons area these days, is still in a relationship with Shamin Abbas, visits him frequently at his home in New Zealand, and is happy despite being “still angry” at “the treatment of the industry” and “people he thought were friends”.
Lauer is the father of children Jack (24), Romy (22), and Tice (18) with ex-wife Annette Locke. Sources say he is a “good father” to his children and is focused on “spending time with them.”
Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan, via Getty
The talk about Lauer’s next steps comes a year after a source told PEOPLE at the time that he was “not considering” a return, adding that “the current political cycle is not something that even people who have been in politics for a long time are really willing to take up.”
Lauer has been out of public view in recent years, except for a few appearances, including Don Lemon’s wedding in New York in April 2024.
