Two weeks after Matt Lauer's ousting from the Today show, the embattled host is now "fighting save his marriage" of 19 years, an unnamed source told People.
Lauer "doesn't want a divorce" with former model Annette Roque. According to the insider, for both of them, "their first thought is their children." Recent paparazzi photos also caught the two at their daughter's horse-riding lesson on Sunday, albeit without their wedding rings.
The pair first met in 1998 on a blind date, the anchor revealed in an interview with the Palm Beach Post that year. "It was one of those slow-developing things," he said. "I don't think I kissed her for two months." They married months later in Bridgehampton, New York, going on to have three children: sons Jack, 16, and Thijs, 11, and daughter Romy, 14.
Their marriage made headlines in 2006 when the National Enquirer published court documents showing Roque briefly filed for divorce. She withdrew the papers three weeks later, but her claims painted a shocking portrayal of Lauer. The allegations stated he had committed "cruel and inhumane" acts against her and showed "extreme anger and hostility."
In 2010, more rumors surfaced that the pair no longer lived together. Lauer denied the news at the time, but a source recently told People that Lauer often stayed in the city while the rest of the family lived full-time in the Hamptons.
"Have we had a completely perfect, easy marriage? No. But the stories you've read over the years are not true," Lauer told People in 2010. "The accusations [of infidelity] are ridiculous and I'm not going to [dignify] them with an answer. It's not true."
Fast-forward to the graphic sexual harassment and assault allegations that broke in November, as multiple unnamed sources reiterated that the morning host was unfaithful to Roque.
"There were a lot of consensual relationships, but that's still a problem because of the power he held," a former producer told Variety. "He couldn't sleep around town with celebrities or on the road with random people, because he's Matt Lauer and he's married. So he'd have to do it within his stable, where he exerted power, and he knew people wouldn't ever complain."
While "no long-term decisions have been made," People's source says that the couple is now taking their marriage "day by day."
(h/t People)
