Matt Lauer won’t put up a fight.
Once one of the richest men in television, “Today” host Matt Lauer has agreed to give his longtime wife Annette Roque up to $20 million and is “bending over backwards” to give her everything she wants in their divorce settlement, Page Six reported Wednesday.
That’s because he feels “so guilty” that he cheated on her with multiple women — or he feels guilty he got caught acting inappropriately at work, which led to his being fired from NBC in November, friends of the couple told Page Six.
Lauer and Roque, a former model, are getting along as they finalize their divorce, friends said. They’re spending time with their three children at Strongheart Manor, their 12-bedroom estate in the Hamptons, which they bought in 2016 for $36.5 million from actor Richard Gere.
“Things really have settled down,” a source told Page Six. “Matt and Annette are getting on and they’re both spending time with their kids. They hope to settle the divorce very soon.”
What hasn’t been settled is who will wind up with Strongheart Manor. Both Lauer and Roque love the house, but Lauer has gone so far as to describe it as his “dream home,” Page Six said. He also decamped to the house after his firing, fleeing the Upper East Side apartment that long was the base for his bachelor lifestyle, despite his 20-year marriage to Roque.
Page Six added that the couple’s divorce negotiations have progressed smoothly because they signed a “postnuptial” agreement back in 2006, when Roque initially filed for divorce after learning her husband had been unfaithful. In her 2006 filing, Roque claimed Lauer had caused her “mental abuse, extreme mental and emotional distress, humiliation, torment and anxiety.”
But Lauer reportedly offered to pay Roque millions of dollars if she agreed to stay with him. He was concerned about maintaining his image as “America’s Dad,” a source told Page Six. Over the next decade, Roque received an annual “allowance” while leading a separate life, Page Six added.
The couple have agreed to share child care responsibilities of their three children, Jack, 17, Romy, 14, and Thijs, 11, with Lauer determined to remain a “devoted,” involved father.