Brooke Nevils Hushed Struggles After Alleged 2014 Assault: A Glimpse Into Her Time in a Mental Health Facility

Matt Lauer; Brooke Nevils.
Credit:

Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty; T.JACKSON / BACKGRID

Warning: This story contains explicit language and graphic descriptions of sexual assault and misconduct.

NEED TO KNOW

• Brooke Nevils alleged that Matt Lauer raped her in a hotel room during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, resulting in Lauer’s firing from Today in 2017.
• Lauer has denied the allegations.
• Nevils is set to release her memoir, Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe, providing further details about her experiences.

Brooke Nevils is sharing her story regarding the complaint she filed against Matt Lauer at NBC, which led to his termination in 2017.

In her memoir, Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe (due out Feb. 3), Nevils recounts her interactions with the former Today anchor, who lost his job after she reported his alleged assault during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

An excerpt published by The Cut on Jan. 28 reveals how her mental health deteriorated due to the repeated encounters she had with Lauer, now 68, which she concealed for years. “I felt totally alone, drowning in plain sight,” she wrote, feeling she had “obviously done something wrong” following their first encounter in Sochi, when Lauer insisted on anal sex.

Despite her initial decision to “bury what happened,” Lauer’s follow-up email prompted a wave of panic and confusion for her.

Several additional instances of what NBC News would later term “alleged inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace” occurred between Nevils and Lauer prior to her complaint in 2017.

In 2019, Lauer publicly denied the accusation in a letter to Variety.

Brooke Nevils is seen in New York.

T.JACKSON / BACKGRID

In her memoir, Nevils described how her encounters with Lauer left her feeling “more and more like I was being drawn into quicksand.” She recounted moments of self-delusion, believing she could take back control, only to find herself further entrenched in abuse.

“Until I reported Matt, I probably told about 10 or 12 people sanitized, idealized versions of what happened,” Nevils noted. After confiding in friends, she observed their shocked reactions and their advice to leave NBC.

“It would take years — and a national reckoning with sexual harassment and assault — before I called what happened to me assault,” she added.

Nevils chose to report Lauer upon learning that multiple publications were investigating him, feeling the disclosure of her experiences was imminent.

Matt Lauer on “Today” in November 2017.

Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Following her report, Nevils remained at NBC for several months before taking a leave of absence that became permanent.

She reflected on her struggles during this period, describing herself as “a train wreck,” plagued by compulsive behavior and paranoia, ultimately leading to a psychiatric hospitalization.

Now, Nevils is happily married and has two children, stating that she has “painstakingly rebuilt” her life since leaving NBC.

“Every moment with my family is a precious piece of the life that I once believed I no longer deserved,” she wrote.

The first time Nevils publicly shared her story was in 2019, in Ronan Farrow’s book, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators. The book noted that Nevils had “attempted suicide” in the years following Lauer’s firing, suffering from severe PTSD and heavy drinking.

Farrow detailed her struggles, noting she had lost significant weight and visited doctors numerous times within a month.

In the book, Nevils expressed the profound losses she faced in the wake of her reporting against Lauer, stating she “lost everything I cared about.”

After Nevils came forward, multiple women reported similar allegations against Lauer. In a statement read by colleagues on-air, he acknowledged that while some accusations were untrue or mischaracterized, he felt “embarrassed and ashamed” by the truth embedded in these stories.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit rainn.org.