Matt Lauer stepped out with his girlfriend, Shamin Abas, in a rare outing nearly two months after his accuser Brooke Nevils released a memoir detailing her alleged 2014 rape.
The ousted “Today” show anchor — who has adamantly denied Nevils’ claims — was spotted in Sag Harbor, L.I., Monday night, marking the first time Lauer has been seen since the bombshell release.
The couple bundled up in coats and the former news anchor wore a hat as they strolled around the Hamptons village.
In her tell-all novel, “Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame and the Stories We Choose to Believe,” Nevils branded Lauer a “monster” and described the bloody aftermath of the alleged rape.
At the time of the alleged attack, Nevils was working as an NBC talent assistant for the Sochi Olympics at the time, and had been drinking with “longtime boss and mentor” Meredith Vieira the previous evening when Lauer joined them.
She alleged that she was “drunk and alone” when Lauer “insist[ed] on having anal sex” in a “spinning room” with her body “unsteady” and her mind “blurred [and] frantic.”
Nevils said she woke up in her Russia hotel room with her “underwear and the sheet beneath [her] caked with blood.”
She noted, “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. It hurt to sit. It hurt to remember.”
Nevils also admitted that “if anyone else had done this to [her], [she] would have gone to the police,” but ultimately chose not to because of his high-profile status.
She also claimed that there were “four more instances” of Lauer sexually assaulting her, one of which took place in his NBC dressing room.
Lauer, 68, has always maintained their relationship was “mutual and completely consensual.”
Nevils ended up filing a complaint to NBC against Lauer in 2017 — and several other women came forward with claims of their own.
Lauer, who has denied the sexual misconduct allegations, was fired within 24 hours. He has not been charged with or convicted of any crime.
He split from wife Annette Roque in 2019 after 19 years of marriage and moved on with Abas that same year.
Weeks before Nevils’ memoir put the disgraced journalist in the headlines again, Abas was pushing her significant other to make a career comeback.
“She is encouraging him to keep trying and she is definitely persistent. There have been instances of second and third acts with other stars, so they think people will give him a chance,” a source exclusively told Page Six last December.
But other insiders had previously told us that when Lauer was having discussions about a return a while ago, but was met with “a hard ‘no.’”
In the years since he was axed from NBC, Lauer has lived a quiet life in the Hamptons and is occasionally spotted publicly when spending time with his three children.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
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