A former Today show staff member is detailing an alleged in-office affair with Matt Lauer that transpired 16 years ago. Time
Addie Collins Zinone, one of the women accusing former NBC Today anchor Matt Lauer of sexual misconduct, describes her relationship with him as a “massive mistake.
”On Monday’s broadcast of NBC’s Megyn Kelly Today, Zinone told her story to television viewers. It was a story that she had detailed Thursday in Variety.
As a 24-year-old production assistant at Today in 2000, she had just accepted a job in West Virginia and was eager to get any advice the powerful Lauer might have so that she could follow a similar career path to his.
Her departure was just weeks away when she received a message from Lauer about her appearance. “OK, now you’re killing me. You look great today. It’s a bit tough to concentrate,” his message to her read, according to Zinone. She thought it was a prank.
“My first reaction was, ‘Is this really you?’ ” She explained to Kelly, “I thought it was a joke because it just seemed so flirty and, yeah, I didn’t know what to do with it.”
And she says Lauer followed up on that exchange at a lunch meeting the next day.
“During the lunch, it didn’t go to professional advice. It went quickly to accomplishing his goal,” said Zinone, referring to his sexual intent. “I didn’t really know how to keep up with that conversation.”
Kelly asked, “How long after that lunch was the first physical encounter?
Zinone: “Later that day.”
Now 41, Zinone described being overwhelmed and confused with nervous energy as an aspiring journalist who looked up to Lauer.
She said she felt she has no one to talk to and when he asked her to meet him, she went.Telling Kelly that…
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