It’s been a rough few years for everyone involved in the Matt Lauer sexual assault case. But while the details of what actually went on between Brooke Nevils and the former Today Show host have been coming to light, there is one person who has remained silent. And that is Lauer’s wife, Annette Roque.
Well, Roque has finally released a statement regarding the whole matter. Keep reading to find out what she had to say.
What happened between Matt Lauer and Brooke Nevils?
Though Lauer was fired in 2017 for what happened between him and Nevils, the details of what transpired are just now coming out, thanks to Ronan Farrow’s new book “Catch and Kill.”
According to Nevils, while she was in Sochi covering the 2014 Olympics, she spent one night drinking with former Today co-anchor Meredith Vieira and Lauer. After the night came to an end, Nevils went back to Lauer’s room for what she believed to be a platonic visit.
She says that once she got to the room, Lauer pushed her against the door and began kissing her and asking if she liked anal sex. Though she declined several times, he allegedly flipped her over and threw her on the bed.
She “was in the midst of telling him she wasn’t interested again when he ‘just did it,’” Farrow wrote in the book obtained by Variety. “Lauer, she said, didn’t use lubricant. The encounter was excruciatingly painful. ‘It hurt so bad. I remember thinking, Is this normal?’ She told me she stopped saying no, but wept silently into a pillow.”
Nevils says that she never agreed to the sex.
“It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” she said. “It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have anal sex.”
What does Lauer say happened between him and Nevils?
Lauer recently released a lengthy letter, trying to clear his name.
“I had an extramarital affair with Brooke Nevils in 2014,” he wrote. “It began when she came to my hotel room very late one night in Sochi, Russia. We engaged in a variety of sexual acts. We performed oral sex on each other, we had vaginal sex, and we had anal sex. Each act was mutual and completely consensual.”
He claimed that certain aspects of Nevil’s story were made up.
“The story Brooke tells is filled with false details intended only to create the impression this was an abusive encounter,” he continued. “Nothing could be further from the truth. There was absolutely nothing aggressive about that encounter. Brooke did not do or say anything to object. She certainly did not cry. She was a fully enthusiastic and willing partner. At no time did she behave in a way that made it appear she was incapable of consent. She seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do. The only concern she expressed was that someone might see her leaving my room. She embraced me at the door as she left.“
He also says that the two continued to see each other after the incident.
“This encounter, which she now falsely claims was an assault, was the beginning of our affair,” he continued. “It was the first of many sexual encounters between us over the next several months. After we returned to New York, we both communicated by text and by phone. We met for drinks, and she met me at my apartment on multiple occasions to continue our affair. Our meetings were arranged mutually. At no time, during or after her multiple visits to my apartment, did she express in words or actions any discomfort with being there, or with our affair.”
What does Matt Lauer’s wife have to say about the whole ordeal?
Up until now, Lauer’s ex-wife Annette Roque has been silent while different aspects of her husband’s affair have become public. But now, she has released a statement through her lawyers.
“In response to your inquiry, our client has asked us to tell you that now that the parties are officially divorced, her priority and only concern is for their wonderful children,” Roque’s lawyer John M. Teitler told People.
The divorce was finalized in September and was the end of an over 20-year union between Lauer and Roque.
Source: Read Full Article