While Matt Lauer has been largely shunned by both his former Today Show co-hosts and fans following his 2017 departure from the long running show, he appears to still have one former co-star by his side.
The Today anchor left his role of 20 years after allegations of both sexual harassment and assault were brought to light, through an NBC employee, subsequent investigations, and the explosive Ronan Farrow 2019 book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators.
He has since retired from public life, though fellow former Today anchor Bryant Gumbel, who is the third longest-serving Today anchor behind Matt and Katie Couric, gave a rare update on how his former colleague is doing.
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Speaking with Page Six at The Apollo Spring Benefit in New York City this week, the former television anchor revealed that despite Matt's controversies, the two speak "almost" every day.
"He's doing great," he said, adding that he's "doing fine" and described him as "a good man." Mat, age, took over Bryant's role when he left the show in 1997 after 15 years as anchor, and the two remained close friends.
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The latter was even Matt's best man during his wedding to ex-wife Anne Roque – mother of his kids Jack, 21, Romy, 19, and Thijs, 16 – in 1998. The former couple finalized their divorce in 2019 following his sexual assault controversy, and he has since been romantically linked to Shamin Abas.
In turn, Matt was also Bryant's best man, when in 2001 he married Hilary Quinlan, after divorcing his wife of 28 years, June Baranco, the same year.
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Though Bryant has maintained a friendship with Matt, the same cannot be said of their former colleague Katie, who recently opened up about his "disgusting" and "sad" actions.
The veteran journalist was part of the NBC family for nearly 20 years, having joined Today as national political correspondent in 1989, and she later became permanent co-anchor of the morning show in 1991, until 2006.
While Katie was no longer on the Today Show by 2017, she witnessed from afar Matt's demise, and weighed in on it during an appearance on Kelly Ripa's new Sirius XM podcast Let's Talk Off Camera.
She recalled the moment she first learned of Lauer's actions, and told Kelly: "I remember using the word 'disgusted' to talk about Matt's behavior, and I think my overwhelming emotion is just being so disappointed and so sad."
The two longtime media industry titans discussed both Matt's unceremonious departure as well as the ousting of NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell,also over sexual misconduct allegations, earlier this year, describing it as "reckless" behavior.
"It just amazes me that a powerful executive like that would be so dumb, just be so stupid and reckless," she said of the former CEO, adding: "I think reckless is the word. You can see how it happens, but I think you have to be smart and disciplined and know that unless you tell your supervisor, and unless you're not a direct report, that having a relationship with a colleague isn't cool."
She continued: "It's so self-destructive, that behavior," adding: "Is it worth it? Or comport yourself in that way, get a divorce. Go to your superiors. Do the right thing, for your career, and your personal decisions."