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Matt Lauer is eyeing a potential return to professional life eight years after he was fired from the Today show.
A source tells PEOPLE that the former television anchor — who was fired by NBC in November 2017 amid sexual harassment allegations from multiple women — is “doing well in his private life” and “wants to get back into the media arena in some capacity, if not TV.”
“He has talked to some people about it,” the insider says.
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In November 2017, NBC fired Lauer after a former network employee, later identified as Brooke Nevils, reported that he sexually harassed her. Multiple other women then came forward with similar accusations.
In Ronan Farrow’s 2019 book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators, Nevils went public and alleged that Lauer raped her at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The former anchor insisted all of his encounters were consensual.
The source adds that Lauer, 67, largely lives around the Hamptons these days, is still in a relationship with Shamin Abas, often visits his home in New Zealand and is happy, despite being “still angry” with “the way he was treated by the industry” and “people he thought were his friends.”
Lauer is dad to kids Jack, 24, Romy, 22, and Thijs, 18, whom he shares with his ex-wife Annette Roque. The insider says he’s also focused on being “good father” to his kids and “spending time with them.”
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Chatter of Lauer’s next steps comes a year after a source told PEOPLE that he wasn’t “looking to” return at the time, adding that “the current cycle of politics isn’t anything even people who have been doing it for a long time are really excited to cover.”
Lauer has remained out of the public eye in recent years, outside of a handful of appearances, such as at Don Lemon’s New York City wedding in April 2024.
