A new report in the New York Post indicates that Matt Lauer’s marriage to Annette Roque has been troubled long before the allegations that surfaced this week — and that his wandering eye has been a source of strain since the very beginning.
According to a report in Page Six, the Post’s celebrity column, the Dutch model objected to the recently ousted Today show co-anchor’s frequent work travel — and early in the marriage, insisted on joining him. At the time, Roque was seen as an overly-controlling jealous wife, but since the allegations have emerged, it appears that she had very good reason to be concerned.
NBC fired Lauer last week after a female staffer claimed he sexually harassed her during NBC’s coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Since then, several more women have come forward to accuse Lauer of sexual misconduct, including one who said he exposed himself to her in his office and then chastised her when she rebuffed him.
Sources told Page Six that for the last three years, Roque and Lauer have been living separate lives, with Lauer at their Manhattan apartment during the week while Rogue stays put at their sprawling property in Sag Harbor.
One source told the newspaper that they very rarely ever see Roque in Manhattan, and when she has been spotted, looks “painfully frail.”
Lauer has long been rumored to have had an affair with the Today show’s West Coast anchor Natalie Morales, and those rumors may have been the tipping point in Roque’s decision to file for divorce in 2006 when she was seven months pregnant. Lauer has just returned from covering the Olympics in Italy with Morales when Roque filed divorce papers.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, the court filings accused Lauer of “cruel and inhumane” treatment of his wife, who withdrew the divorce request before she gave birth two months later. A source told Page Six that Lauer offered his wife $5 million at the time to remain in the marriage, concerned about tarnishing his squeaky-clean image.
The New York Post has revised an earlier report that Roque has left the country for her native Netherlands, with a source claiming that she has remained in Sag Harbor.
Through a publicist, Lauer declined to comment on his marriage, and Roque has not made any media statements.
[Feature image: Associated Press]
