Matt Lauer Accuser Brooke Nevils Shares Trauma, Psych Ward Stay After Alleged Rape

One of the more widely reported developments at the height of the #MeToo movement was the 2017 ouster of then-Today co-anchor Matt Lauer amid allegations of sexual misconduct from an NBC staffer. Now, more than a decade after the alleged misconduct took place, the alleged victim, Brooke Nevils, is sharing details about her experience.

An excerpt from Nevils' upcoming memoir -- Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe -- was released (via The Cut) on Wednesday. In addition to providing a rough timeline of the alleged abuse, which she ultimately came to describe as rape, she revealed that the trauma she experienced and the loss of her career resulted in a psychiatric ward stay.

I’d started at NBC giving studio tours, and it had taken nearly a decade to work my way up to salaried prime-time news producer. Now that life was gone, and I barely recognized the train wreck I’d become. I was compulsive, paranoid, and drinking all the time. I felt I’d ruined everything, hurt and embarrassed everyone I loved.

Soon I would find myself in a psych ward, believing myself so worthless and damaged that the world would be better off without me.

The alleged abuse first occurred in Sochi during the 2014 Winter Olympics when Nevils was working as a talent assistant with NBC. According to Nevils, the inappropriate sexual activity continued across several encounters after the pair returned to the United States and resumed their regular work duties.

It would take years before Nevils was able to contextualize what had happened to her as an assault, she writes in the excerpt. Later, as #MeToo was dominating the news cycle, she felt compelled to come forward with her claims despite a feeling that it would likely be for naught.

I would never have asked anyone else to risk their career to come forward against Matt Lauer. It was a suicide mission — but when I looked back at my life since Sochi, it seemed plain enough that it’d been a suicide mission all along. NBC could investigate my claims or not, but at least I would have some small hope of being able to live with myself again.

Lauer was ultimately fired from his job three years later, after Nevils -- who remained publicly anonymous at the time -- filed a complaint with NBC's HR department. In 2019, the longtime journalist and network mainstay denied the claims against him, declaring that his relationship with his alleged victim was "extramarital, but consensual" (via NPR). No criminal charges have been filed as of January 2026.

In November 2025, it was reported that Lauer was eyeing a return to the media arena. Before his shocking downfall, the former Today anchor was one of the highest-paid journalists on television, earning a reported $25 million annually (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Matt Lauer has yet to return to television and is reportedly living a quiet life away from the spotlight (via People). Meanwhile, Nevils' book, Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe, is slated for a February 3, 2026 release (via Penguin Random House).

Source: The Cut