InRonan Farrow’s new bookCatch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators(out now),Nevils reveals that she’s suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since filing the complaint that led to Lauer’sfiringin November 2017.
“Over the past two years, Nevils had attempted suicide,” writes Farrow, 31. “She’s been hospitalized for post-traumatic stress disorder, descended into heavy drinking, pulled herself back.”
Nevils, 35, also experienced extreme weight loss from the stress, according to the book.
“She’d lost fourteen pounds,” Farrow writes. “And gone to doctors twenty-one times in a single-month period.”
While Nevils doesn’t regret her decision to speak out, it didn’t come without consequences.
“I’ve lost everything I cared about,” she says in the book. “My job. My goals.”
In the book, Nevils alleges that Lauer, 61, anally raped her in his hotel room at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where she was working for NBC underMeredith Vieira.
“It was non-consensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” she tells Farrow in the book. “It was nonconsensual in that I said, multiple times, that I didn’t want to have anal sex.”
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Nevils says in the book that she had more sexual encounters with Lauer back in New York City, telling Farrow: “It was completely transactional. It was not a relationship.”
Lauer, who recentlyfinalized his divorcefrom longtime wifeAnnette Roque, penned a lengthy letter toVarietylast week denying the allegations, saying the encounter in Sochi was the beginning of a consensual affair with Nevils and “the first of many sexual encounters between us over the next several months.”
InCatch and Kill, Nevils describes two of the “sexual encounters” she had with Lauer following the rape, describing both as being non-consensual. In one instance, she says he “grabbed her hips and fingered her” while she was looking for something in his office.
“I just went numb. In my internal narrative, I failed because I didn’t say no,” she says in the book.
Nevils tells Farrow that Lauer asked for oral sex in exchange for a recorded farewell message to her then-boyfriend, who was leaving NBC for a new job.
In his denial letter, Lauer wrote: “At no time, during or after her multiple visits to my apartment, did she express in words or actions any discomfort with being there, or with our affair. She also went out of her way to see me several times in my dressing room at work, and on one of those occasions, we had a sexual encounter. It showed terrible judgment on my part, but it was completely mutual and consensual.”
Lauer, who pointed out what he claims are “contradictions” in Nevils’ story, also said that people were aware of the affair.
“There are people who fully understand the actual dynamic that existed between Brooke and me,” he said. “They have reluctantly and quietly reached out in the past two years and shared what they know. They have accurately described Brooke and her role in this affair. I hope those people will understand that these allegations cross a serious line, and what they can share is a vital truth, even if it may seem unpopular.”
Nevilsresponded to Lauer’s letteron Wednesday, referring to it as a “case study in victim shaming.”
“His open letter was a case study in victim-blaming,” Nevils said, adding, “I am not afraid of him now.”
“Regardless of his threats, bullying, and the shaming and predatory tactics I knew he would (and now has) tried to use against me,” Nevils concluded.
Nevils alsoexpressed gratitudeto those who have been moved to share their own stories after hearing hers.
“I want to thank the many survivors who shared their stories with me today and offered their support. It takes courage, and I am truly grateful,” Nevils tweeted.
source: people.com
