I Had Sex with Matt Lauer and it Ruined My Career
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Addie Collins Zinone says that in 1999 she landed a job as a Production Assistant on The Today Show.
She ended up having sex with Matt Lauer in his dressing room, his office and in a bathroom at a political convention.
Zinone told her story to Variety about her consensual relationship with Matt Lauer and how it changed her career path.
She says that while she was a student at Temple, she was obsessed with the Today Show. She wrote a fax to Katie Couric that landed her a visit to Today and ultimately a job on the show.
She said that while she was at Today, she formed a really close bond with Katie, Al Roker and Ann Curry.
She then decided to leave the show and get a job in a small market. It was just before she left for that market that Lauer made his move.
She tells Variety, "...out of the blue, I get a message from Matt Lauer. We didn’t communicate much over email back then, but we used a system called Top of Line, which was instant messaging for employees.
“hey,” Matt wrote. “i hope you won’t drag me to personnel for saying this. but you look fantastic. i don’t know what you have done, or what is going on in your life…but it’s agreeing with you.”
I thanked him, and I told him about my new job. “i’d like to get a little advice from you before i leave.”
He agreed, and that was the end of our conversation for a while. A month later, on July 12, I got another message from Matt. I remember exactly what I was wearing — it was a skirt, heels and a top. “OK…NOW YOU’RE KILLING ME…YOU LOOK GREAT TODAY! A BIT TOUGH TO CONCENTRATE.”
I didn’t know what to do. He was obviously flirting. But I’d never seen anything like that from Matt before. As a 24-year-old production assistant, I had no idea how to interpret that. I could truly embarrass myself if I said something like, “Where are you going with this?”
We went to lunch. My intentions were purely professional. I thought this was a way to get real-world constructive advice. What that turned into was an opportunity for him to come on to me. It was flattering, confusing, overwhelming. I was nervous. I didn’t know what to do with it. He was clearly trying to guide the conversation. He was there to hit on me and manipulate the situation, and I fell for it. Here’s how I should have known what I was getting myself into. When we left, he told me: “You leave first, and I’ll leave after.” In no lunch I’d ever had at “Today” had anyone suggested we leave separately, as if something was up.
I get back to the office and I couldn’t concentrate. It was like an out of body experience. I know that sounds silly to someone who wasn’t there emotionally, but I couldn’t sit still. I sent him a message, and he wrote back right away.
“meet me.” he said.
“meet you where?” I asked. “matt, think about this first…you have a wife.”
“dressing room.”
“dressing room where?”
“studio.”
“i’ll be there in 20 minutes,” I said.
“I can’t stay that long…I have a car coming at 3:00.”
It was 2:42 p.m.
“okay,” I wrote. “i’ll be over there soon.”
He opens the door. There you go. It crossed the line. It was a consensual encounter. It happened in his dressing room above studio 1A, which was empty in the afternoons. He got in his car and I had to go back to work, and now my life had completely changed.
