Matt Lauer has tried to "protect" his family from "embarrassment" by staying silent about allegations of sexual misconduct.
Matt Lauer
The 60-year-old presenter - who has children Jack, 16, Romy, 14, and Thijs, 11, with wife Annette Roque - was sacked from 'Today' in November following the claims against him and though he's admitted he "acted inappropriately", he insists many of the allegations are "absolutely false".
He said in a statement to The Washington Post newspaper: "I have made no public comments on the many false stories from anonymous or biased sources that have been reported about me over these past several months. I remained silent in an attempt to protect my family from further embarrassment and to restore a small degree of the privacy they have lost.
"But defending my family now requires me to speak up. I fully acknowledge that I acted inappropriately as a husband, father and principal at NBC. However I want to make it perfectly clear that any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false."
Lauer's former co-host Ann Curry recently revealed she had approached NBC management after a staff member confided in her to say she had been "sexually harassed physically" by the presenter.
She said: "A woman approached me and asked me tearfully if I could help her. She was afraid of losing her job. ... I believed her.
"I told management they had a problem and they needed to keep an eye on him and how he deals with women."
Lauer was fired from his lucrative job on the 'Today' show, when it was alleged that he had sexually harassed an unnamed intern during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, back in 2014.
Since then, a number of other women have come forward to make similar complaints.
Shortly after he was fired, Lauer released a statement in which he admitted to being sorry for his past mistakes, but he also insisted that some of the accusations were untrue.
He said: "There are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain I have caused others by words and actions. To the people I have hurt, I am truly sorry.
"As I am writing this I realise the depth of the damage and disappointment I have left behind at home and at NBC."
Subsequently, he said that some of what has been said about him is "untrue or mischaracterised, but there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed".
The statement continued: "I regret that my shame is now shared by the people I cherish dearly. Repairing the damage will take a lot of time and soul searching and I'm committed to beginning that effort. It is now my full time job."
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