Matt Lauer ‘excited’ and ‘withdrawn’ after Katie Couric’s diss

Matt Lauer’s former friends are seeing less and less of the disgraced journalist.

Five years after his departure from NBC’s Today — as well as the release of former co-host Katie Couric’s memoir Going There in 2021 — Lauer, 64, has “kind of pulled back from several friendships over the past year.” “.

A source recently told People that the embattled talk show host was “really upset” about Couric’s book. “She shared her private text messages and half spanked him. As a result, he lost confidence.”

The insider added, “His level of trust just shrank with a lot of the people he considered friends, and a lot of that was because of Katie’s book, and because talking to people from his past is painful.”

In November 2017, Lauer was fired from Today over allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.

In the 65-year-old’s disclosure story, she described hearing “the whispers” about Lauer’s bad behavior, including from a co-worker who allegedly confided in her that she had received a dirty email from Couric’s co-host.

In her book, Couric claimed that Lauer confessed that he was desperate, that he “can’t even tell [his] Arm around” the women who came to his office crying.

She wrote that she “couldn’t imagine a scene like that,” reminding Lauer that “he can’t do that — you can’t put your arm around her.”

Elsewhere in her memoir, she insisted Lauer was a “decent” man despite his firing, and her “heart sank” when she heard the news.

Savannah Guthrie announced the damning report during a broadcast of the hit morning news show. “This is a sad morning for Today and NBC News,” Guthrie said at the time, adding that she was told of the incident just moments before publication.

“As I’m sure you can understand, we are devastated. I’m heartbroken for Matt. He’s my dear, dear friend and partner,” the 50-year-old moderator continued.

While noting that she was saddened by the woman who accused Lauer of wrongdoing, she added that “it’s long overdue” for women to be comfortable taking on men.