FormerTodayanchorMatt Lauerwas seen with his girlfriend Shamin Abas on March 23 in Sag Harbor, N.Y.
The public appearance was a rare one, as he was last seen in public in November, perPEOPLE. The outing came seven weeks after Brooke Nevils, another formerTodayemployee, accused Lauer of raping her in 2014 in her book,Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe, allegations she made back in 2017.
Lauer wasfired from NBCin 2017, after Nevils filed an official complaint with the network, alleging that he had raped her while they covered the Sochi Winter Olympics and that they'd had other non-consensual sexual encounters later.
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At the time, Lauer's former co-hostSavannah Guthrieread a statement fromNBC NewsChairman Andy Lack that said the network had received a complaint of "inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace." It was the first, Lack noted, but he added, "we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident."
Lauer has previously confirmed that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Nevils, butdenied the alleged rape, saying that encounters with her and other women who accused him of sexual misconduct wereconsensual.
Lauer and Abas have been dating since 2019. The longtime broadcaster's wife Annette Roque had filed for divorce from him the same year.
Nevils' book recalling her history with the former broadcaster was released Feb. 3.
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In an excerpt published inThe Cutdays before, Nevils said her life had been upended by the scandal.
"After his firing was announced the next morning — Wednesday, November 29, 2017 — the [New York] TimesandVarietypublished a slew of other allegations against Matt," Nevils wrote. "The next day, an investigative reporter was texting my personal cell phone. Eventually a tabloid began calling my co-workers at 30 Rock, apparently asking whether they were aware that I was Matt's 'mistress who'd gotten him fired.'"
As for Nevils, she wrote in her book that her life changed significantly post-Lauer.
She struggled at first, leaving the network a few months after Lauer.
"I barely recognized the train wreck I'd become," Nevils remembered. "I was compulsive, paranoid, and drinking all the time. I felt I'd ruined everything, hurt and embarrassed everyone I loved."
Her feelings led to her seeking mental health treatment.
"Soon I would find myself in a psych ward," she said, "believing myself so worthless and damaged that the world would be better off without me."
Eventually, though, she "painstaking rebuilt my life," she wrote, marrying and and having two children.
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