The former NBC producer says she was repeatedly assaulted by Matt Lauer, an anchor at the network – then spent years blaming herself in the aftermath. She talks about power, preconceptions and life after #MeToo
When Brooke Nevils’ allegations about the former NBC anchor Matt Lauer, one of the most powerful TV stars in the US, became public in 2019, she found herself reading comments about herself online.
Nevils, formerly a producer at NBC, had alleged in Ronan Farrow’s book Catch and Kill that Lauer had sexually assaulted her in his hotel room, after an evening drinking while covering the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Back in New York, there were other incidents – she went to his apartment, where she says it happened again. In his dressing room at the NBC studios, Nevils claims Lauer pushed her down and forced her to give him oral sex. Lauer has consistently denied Nevils’ allegations, in an open letter describing it as an “extramarital affair”. Lauer maintains that Nevils’ account is “filled with false details” creating the impression that the encounter was abusive. No charges were ever brought.
The online comments said it sounded more like a relationship she regretted, or that she was angry that Lauer had ended their “affair”. She said she had sent him friendly emails and messages after the alleged incidents; she had gone to his apartment twice. It defied common sense – although Nevils’ new book, Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame and the Stories We Choose to Believe, is an exercise in challenging our idea of “common sense”.
