Former NBC staffer Brooke Nevils, who accused longtime Today show host Matt Lauer of rape in 2017, is sharing new details about the personal devastation she experienced after coming forward. In her upcoming memoir, Unspeakable Things, Nevils describes how her life unraveled in the wake of her complaint — professionally, emotionally, and psychologically.
In an excerpt published by The Cut on Wednesday, January 28, Nevils recounts the rapid chain of events following her decision to report Lauer to NBC executives. She says Lauer was questioned by NBC and fired later that same day by then–NBC News chairman Andrew Lack. The next morning, the firing became public, followed quickly by additional allegations reported by The New York Times and Variety.
What followed for Nevils, however, was not relief — but chaos.
“The next day, an investigative reporter was texting my personal cell phone,” she wrote. “Eventually a tabloid began calling my coworkers at 30 Rock, apparently asking whether they were aware that I was Matt’s ‘mistress who’d gotten him fired.’”
The scrutiny and rumors took a severe toll. Nevils says she managed to stay at NBC for a few more months before taking a leave of absence that ultimately became permanent, ending a career she had spent nearly a decade building.
“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,” she wrote. “Now that life was gone, and I barely recognized the train wreck I’d become.”
Nevils describes spiraling into paranoia, compulsive behavior, and heavy drinking, consumed by guilt and shame despite being the one who reported the alleged assault.
“I felt I’d ruined everything, hurt and embarrassed everyone I loved,” she wrote.
The emotional fallout grew so severe that Nevils says she eventually found herself hospitalized in a psychiatric ward.
“Soon I would find myself in a psych ward, believing myself so worthless and damaged that the world would be better off without me,” she added.
Lauer, now 68, was fired by NBC in November 2017 amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. At the time, Andrew Lack said the network had “reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident” following an internal review. Lauer has denied wrongdoing but acknowledged engaging in what he described as consensual extramarital relationships.
Nevils previously detailed her allegations in Ronan Farrow’s 2019 book Catch and Kill. She alleged that Lauer anally raped her in his hotel room while they were covering the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, saying she was too intoxicated to consent and repeatedly told him she did not want to have anal sex. Farrow’s book also revealed that Nevils later attempted suicide and was hospitalized for PTSD.
Unspeakable Things expands on that story, focusing less on Lauer himself and more on the lasting consequences Nevils says she endured after speaking out — including the loss of her career, public shaming, and long-term mental health struggles.
Her memoir arrives amid renewed conversations about how institutions respond to allegations of misconduct, and the often‑overlooked aftermath faced by those who come forward. Rather than offering a sensational retelling, Nevils’ account centers on survival, accountability, and the heavy personal cost of telling the truth in a public reckoning.
