Former ‘Today’ Cohost Matt Lauer May Not Return to TV, Says Close Friend

It has been over a year since Matt Lauer has been in our television sets, and it may continue to be longer than that according to a close friend.

“There is no way that he’s thinking about returning to work at all,” a pal close to the former Today show cohost, 61, tells Page Six. “How could he? He knows there’s no TV role for him now. And to be honest, it’s the furthest thing from his mind.” The friend reveals that Lauer is laying low at the moment in the Hamptons and spending time with his children.

It has been nothing but chaos for the former anchor since he was accused of sexually harassing a colleague, and soon after we learned that that was not an isolated incident. Lauer’s cohost at the time, Savannah Guthrie, expressed shocked on-air after word got out, and Lauer was given the boot after more than 20 years on the popular program.

“This is a sad morning for us at Today show and at NBC News,” she said. “Just moments ago, NBC chairman Andy Lack sent the following note to our organization: ‘On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer. It represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company’s standards. As a result, we’ve decided to terminate his employment. While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.’”

The 47-year-old added, “We learned this moments ago, just this morning. As you can imagine, we are devastated and we are still processing all of this. I will tell you, we do not know more than what I just shared with you.”

While Lauer may not ever be on TV again, we may find him on the bookshelves as an earlier report revealed that he may be working on a tell-all book. “He’s going to give a blow-by-blow of his dramatic dismissal and reveal what really happened behind closed doors at NBC when he was there for two decades,” a source told In Touch, adding, “He’ll also take a long, hard look at himself and ask for the world’s forgiveness. Although he won’t say NBC was right to fire him, he will take responsibility for his behavior.”

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