Matt Lauer Accuser Shares Details of Rape in Book 'Unspeakable Things' — What Does She Say?

The accuser of former Today show host Matt Lauer is sharing the details of her alleged rape by the ex-television anchor in a new book. The allegations were first revealed during the height of the #MeToo movement in journalist Ronan Farrow's book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators back in 2019.

Brooke Nevils claims in Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe that Matt Lauer raped her back in 2014 while they were at the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. He was first accused of sexual harassment by several women in 2017, and details of his deeds resulted in his termination from NBC, as well as the end of his 20-year marriage to Annette Roque. The former Today host has denied all allegations.

Nevils shares the details of the assault in her book, according to The Cut. She writes that she'd been drinking with Today co-anchor Meredith Vieira when Lauer joined them. She went back to his hotel room, drunk, where he insisted on having anal sex.

"Despite the rounds of vodka shots, the overwhelming power differential, and the bloody underwear and sheets, I would never have used the word ‘rape’ to describe what had happened,” Nevils wrote. "Even now, I hear ‘rape’ and think of masked strangers in dark alleys. Back then, I had no idea what to call what happened other than weird and humiliating. But then there was the pain, which was undeniable."

"It hurt to walk," she continued. "It hurt to sit. It hurt to remember. One strikingly clear thought crossed my mind and then was instantly struck from my consciousness: If anyone else had done this to me, I would have gone to the police."

She didn't go to the police, she says, "because I was in freaking Russia. Who would I call? Putin? The KGB? There was only NBC, and Matt Lauer was Today’s longest-serving anchor with the biggest contract in the 60-year history of morning television."

He was "worth a reported $25 million a year," she added. "In the news business back then, his point of view was reality, and if you disagreed with it, you were wrong."

Brooke Nevils was a prime-time news producer for NBC, per People. She said she tried to talk to Lauer about what happened before they left Russia, but he ignored her until the last day and invited her to come see him in New York after she'd called him sobbing. When she went to his apartment in New York, she said she had sex with him, and he'd brought out a bunch of towels and said, "Just in case."

Brooke said that when she showed reservations about having sex again, Lauer said, "You said you liked it in Sochi." Brooke said she continued to see Lauer, despite the alleged assault.

"Why, if an alleged victim was really sexually assaulted, would they continue a relationship with the perpetrator? Why would they go back? This is the question I have been asked too many times to count, including by Matt himself," she writes.

She goes on to explain that Lauer was "perfectly nice" at work.

“He was not monstrous at all but charming and charismatic, powerfully wielding the talent that all great interviewers have of making you feel as though you’re the only person in the world,” she writes, adding that his demeanor confused her. In 2017, she filed a complaint accusing Lauer of sexual misconduct with NBC. Twenty-four hours later, he was fired.

"Matt Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific, and reprehensible," read a statement from NBC about the allegations. "That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague."

Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe will be released on Feb. 3.