Matt Lauer Sells His Upper East Side Apartment for More Than $7.35 Million
Since his firing from the Today show last November for what NBC News chairman Andy Lack called "inappropriate sexual behavior," Matt Lauer has reportedly spent his days holed up in his $33-million Hamptons house, where he's been staying quiet and "focused on family."
But in early August, Lauer was spotted paddleboarding in Sag Harbor at a charity event, just days before news broke that he had sold his Upper East Side apartment for above its $7.35 million asking price.
According to Variety, which first shared news of the sale, Lauer bought the property in August of 2004 for "a smidgen more than $5.882 million."
In July, Lauer broke his silence in an interview with Radio New Zealand about the ongoing battle over public access to the 16,000-acre, $9.2-million ranch there for which he purchased a lease last year. Known as Hunter Valley Station, the ranch is the only thoroughfare to Hawea Conservation Park.
The New Zealand government’s Walking Access Commission wants to offer hikers and hunters more access to Lauer's property to get to the park, but The New York Times reports that the disgraced TV star wants "hundreds of thousands" of dollars, "if not more," if he is forced to allow greater access to a 25-mile gravel road that passes through the property.
Lauer told Radio New Zealand that the groups seeking an easement on his property are "taking advantage of some difficult times I've been through over the past six months" and added, "I think they see me as an easy mark."
The former Today co-host is also reportedly unhappy with a situation much closer to home. According to a new report in Us Weekly, Lauer is "furious" over the the terms of his pending divorce settlement with his wife of 20 years, Annette Roque. According to the magazine's source, "Roque will receive the [family's] horse farm, their current residence and a one-time payment of $25 million."
"Matt is furious he is essentially handing over half of his net worth to Annette," the source said. "He could fight for a better deal in court but that would only result in dragging this out longer and negative headlines. He is ready to move on with his life and truly believes that a television comeback is possible."
In a move that would seem to support that belief, Lauer was spotted having dinner with Today senior producer at a restaurant near his old apartment on the Upper East Side.
In early June, Lauer dined with Today veteran Deborah Kosofsky at the East Pole, Page Six reports, and the two reportedly discussed his "summer plans" and a potential trip from his longtime home of the Hamptons "to the mountains." He could also head to the farm in New Zealand, which authorities determined he would be allowed to keep after the country launched an investigation into whether he had violated its "good character" condition for foreign landowners.
Although Lauer has been staying largely silent since the news of his firing broke last fall, the former anchor issued a statement in May in response to a report NBCUniversal released following its internal investigation into the misconduct allegations that cost him his job. In a statement to Variety, Lauer said he was fired after "admitting to past relationships with co-workers," but expressed his disagreement with "certain aspects" of the report.
"There are aspects of the NBC report with which I clearly disagree. However, I spent 25 wonderful years at the network, 20 of those at Today, and I’m extremely proud of what we accomplished as a team. On November 29, 2017, I was terminated by NBC after admitting to past relationships with co-workers. A day later I took responsibility for those relationships, apologized to the people I hurt and promised to begin the process of repairing the damage I had caused my family," Lauer said. "I have worked every day since then to honor that promise."
Two weeks before that, the disgraced anchor broke his extended silence with a similar statement to the Washington Post in which he said, "I have made no public comments on the many false stories from anonymous or biased sources that have been reported about me over these past several months . . . I remained silent in an attempt to protect my family from further embarrassment and to restore a small degree of the privacy they have lost. But defending my family now requires me to speak up."
"I fully acknowledge that I acted inappropriately as a husband, father and principal at NBC. However I want to make it perfectly clear that any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false."
Ann Curry on Matt Lauer
The 60-year-old's former co-host, Ann Curry, also spoke to the Washington Post. Curry said that in 2012, a female staffer confided she had been "sexually harassed physically" by Lauer. "A woman approached me and asked me tearfully if I could help her," Curry told the Post. "She was afraid of losing her job ... I believed her."
Curry said she went to NBC executives and, keeping the staffer's name private at her request, "told management they had a problem and they needed to keep an eye on [Lauer] and how he deals with women."
Lauer and Curry reportedly had a rocky relationship ("I can't believe I am sitting next to this woman," he once told an assistant, according to New York magazine), and her tearful sign-off from the show in 2012 included a particularly awkward kiss from Lauer.
Lauer's Relationship with his Today Colleagues
Lauer's replacement on the show, Hoda Kotb, seems to have a friendlier relationship with the former anchor though. In an early April interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Kotb said, "We keep in touch with him. I mean, look, this is one of those complex situations. I’ve known him since I started working at NBC [in 1998]."
"When I was sick with breast cancer, he was the first to call," Kotb added. "He helps and helped in ways that . . . you know, he was incredible in that way. There is that Matt and then there’s the Matt that the accusers speak of. And those accusers' voices matter, and that story matters."
Lauer's wife Annette Roque
In January, the Post reported that Lauer's wife of almost two decades, Annette Roque, "forced him out of the Hamptons estate they shared with their three kids." The newspaper now says his marriage to Roque is "over."
Lauer could have moved to another home he owns in Sag Harbor, with gardens by landscape architect Miranda Brooks and interiors by Muriel Brandolini, which has been on the market and got a price reduction in early March. First listed for $14.9 million, the six-bedroom home's asking price was reduced to $12.75 million, a chop of more than $2 million as the Daily Mail first reported. The 6,000-square foot house, built by architect Daniel Romualdez, sits on 25 acres, and the property also includes a heated pool and Har-Tru tennis court.
Lauer and Roque's main house had been Richard Gere's former home, Strongheart Manor, which they reportedly paid $36 million to purchase in 2013. The estate sits on 6.3 acres on the peninsula of North Haven near Sag Harbor and has 12 bedrooms.
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