ONLY IN THE $200 MILLION DIVORCE
Just as the Today show faces fresh turmoil, Matt Lauer’s 18-year marriage crumbles
The divorce papers were shocking. Matt Lauer’s wife, Annette Roque, claimed he made such extremely hurtful allegations about her that she walked out on him in a fit of rage and stayed away for three months. The “extremely controlling” veteran Today show host also subjected the Dutch-born former model to continual mental abuse, court papers stated, and exhibited extreme anger and hostility toward her. He further engaged in acts that “have been cruel and inhuman,” she alleged, causing extreme mental and emotional distress, humiliation, torment and anxiety.
Matt’s marriage has been hanging by a thread for years. Those bombshell allegations were made by Annette, 51, when she first filed for divorce while eight months pregnant in 2006. Three weeks later, she withdrew the filing — but now, their 18-year marriage has fallen apart again and is barreling toward a battle over his vast fortune. With all his assets and real estate holdings, Matt, 59, is estimated by one insider to be worth a whopping $200 million. “The marriage is over,” a network insider tells In Touch exclusively. And the timing makes it a double whammy for the beloved morning TV star: As his marriage crumbles, In Touch has also learned exclusively that NBC is searching for his Today replacement. “Matt’s life is a mess right now.”
Matt and Annette have been living separate lives. “She lives with the children in the Hamptons while Matt works in NYC and flies out [on a helicopter] for weekends to see the children,” says a source who knows Annette. “Sometimes he spends four days with them, sometimes one, sometimes none, depending on what he has going on.” Every year, though, Matt and
What’s happening at Today and then his marriage falling apart — it’s like a one-two punch for Matt”
— A NETWORK INSIDER
Annette take a family vacation for the sake of the kids. Despite the state of their marriage right now, they put the kids first, and in early March kept up the tradition and went away together. “The vacation is focused entirely on the kids,” says the network source. “Matt and Annette haven’t taken a vacation without the kids for years.” But Annette has taken many of her own trips without Matt. She walked out on him repeatedly, returning home approximately six times in the last year to visit her mother, Johanna Struijk, in Rotterdam, Netherlands. A longtime friend of Johanna and Annette’s stepfather Dick Struijk tells In Touch, “Johanna’s concerned about her daughter. I get the impression that her daughter’s marriage is in name only. I have seen Annette here last year with her children, but not him. I am of the impression he is not really very welcome here.” ( When Annette filed divorce papers in 2006, an insider says she’d also retreated to her mother’s house in the Netherlands.) Another longtime friend adds, “Dick has washed his hands of [Matt]. The mother is a little more tolerant, saying whatever Annette chooses is good with her. But really? I think they would like her to be through with him. They do say that the daughter spends a lot of time alone.”
Published reports branding Matt a cheater have also torn them apart. There have been unconfirmed reports linking him to everyone from a young intern and a singer-songwriter to a yacht-going “mystery blonde” as well as Today co-star Natalie Morales ( both Matt and Natalie repeatedly denied an affair). For a long time, “Annette put
her head in the sand,” says a Matt and Annette source. “But after cheating allegations came out about Natalie and Matt [at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy], they had the fight to end all fights and the marriage imploded.” It never fully recovered. A few years later, Johanna admitted there was trouble in paradise yet again, saying in 2010 that Matt and Annette had secretly split and reconciled that spring and were only “putting on a united front for their children and his career.” Matt, explains the source who knows Annette, “has been trying to just keep her happy for the last few years.”
He can afford to. “Annette lives a life of leisure,” says the source who knows her. “She rides horses three to four days a week. She rarely attends events with Matt.” She has a full staff at home and loves buying art and redecorating their stunning properties (see sidebar), adds the source who knows her. “Even in a town full of extremely wealthy people, she stands out. In other words, a divorce could be very expensive for Matt.”
One thing Matt and Annette do share is a deep devotion to their kids — Jack, 15, Romy, 13, and Thijs, 10. “Matt and Annette have tried over the years to stay together because of their children,” explains the Matt and Annette source. “Annette loves her kids, but she’s horrified by the way her life has turned out. Matt said he wanted to settle down, but his behavior proved otherwise. It’s been anything but the stable marriage she was hoping for.” There’s also an imbalance of power in their relationship. “Matt is very strong-willed — he brushes everything off — and Annette is meek and gentle,” explains the Matt and Annette source. “So he really rules the marriage.”
Just like he’s long ruled the roost at NBC. But his future with the network is uncertain. Though Matt, who’s been at Today for 20 years, signed a $20 million contract late last year that will keep him on the air until 2018, “NBC News chairman Andy Lack is panicked because there is no plan in place for his replacement,” explains the network insider. “If Matt doesn’t re-up, if an unforeseen scandal emerges or if a nasty divorce dulls his popularity with viewers, there just isn’t a deep bench of male talent in the news division that could take over for Matt. There isn’t an heir apparent.”
Network brass are trying to change that. In January, Andy hired Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, who’s getting the third hour of Today as well as a Sunday night news magazine that will likely launch this fall, to bolster NBC’S talent pool. “Andy is also about to lock in Gretchen Carlson, who used to be at Fox News, and has his eye on her former colleague Shepard Smith,” says the network insider, noting that NBC has even been conducting in-house research about Shep, “who has the highest favorability ratings among viewers of both cable and the networks, which typically isn’t the case.”
Whether Matt stays or goes, Andy wants options — and he wants to pick them himself. “Matt is absolutely beloved by the NBC team and has gone out of the way for years to take care of the cast and crew,” says the network insider (except, perhaps, when it came to former Today co-anchor Ann Curry, whose tearful 2012 exit is widely believed to have been orchestrated by Matt). “But Andy doesn’t care what the cast and crew of Today think. His attitude is, ‘If they don’t like it, they can go find another job. I’m building a new bench with tons of talent.’ And Andy wants to keep it that way.”
Unfortunately for Matt, things at work could get just as messy as at home. “Matt’s life is in turmoil, professionally and personally,” says the Matt and Annette source. “The talk in certain Manhattan circles is all about Matt: the behind-thescenes drama at Today, the cheating rumors and how long it will be until Annette finally leaves him.” Adds the network insider, “Nobody knows when she’s going to file — but believe me, it’s coming.” ◼