Matt Lauer’s former wife has spoken out in support of the disgraced former Today show co-anchor, describing the allegations against him as out of character.

In an interview with the Entertainment Tonight, Nancy Alspaugh, who was married to Lauer from 1981 to 1988, said she called him ahead of the widely publicized accusations to let him know that a reporter had contacted her.

“He thanked me for the call and he said of course none of it was true,” Alspaugh said. “Whatever they were going to come out with was fabricated.”

The former television executive appeared to concede that some of the allegations may be truthful, but still defended Lauer and shared concerns about the impact this would have on his family. Lauer is married to Dutch model Annette Roque and the couple has three children together.

“I think a lot of this stuff is obviously going to come to light, whether it’s true or not, and some of the things that are being stated may not be true. As time goes on here, people should be aware there’s a family involved here. There are three children and that’s—I think it’s important to be aware that this can destroy a family. Reporting on accusations before they know whether they’re real or not.”

Alspaugh went on to praise her ex-husband’s character and lamented that some of his admirable qualities are being overlooked in the wake of allegations that he exposed himself to a female employee, pressured another to have sexual intercourse with him, and had a button under his desk that locked his office door from the inside to prevent co-workers from walking on him when he had a woman in his office. Multiple additional accusers have claimed that he sexually harassed them.

“The selfless, giving part of him, which people tend to forget whenever this kind of a situation comes up,” Asplaugh said.

“He would give you the shirt off his back if you really needed it. He did that for everybody.”

Asplaugh’s second husband,  H. Read Jackson, died last year.