Matt Lauer Accuser Brooke Nevils Knew Her 'Career Would Be Over' After Breaking 'Code' by Reporting Journalist

Brooke Nevils knew that reporting Matt Lauer for sexual assault could cost her career, but she chose to come forward anyway.

“When I made that complaint, I knew who Matt Lauer was,” Nevils told a news outlet in an interview published on Thursday, January 29. "I knew what he meant to the company. I knew what the Today show meant to millions and millions of people because I was one of those people. It meant the world to me. I knew what NBC meant to me, it was my family. It was my identity."

The former NBC employee accused Lauer of raping her in a hotel room during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Nevils said she felt like she was "breaking a sort of code for speaking up" about the sexual assault.

"I assumed that the only career that would be ended by that would be mine," she admitted. "And I was okay with that, because whatever the consequences were, I knew I could not live with the knowledge that if I didn't say something, it could continue.”

Nevils worked as a "talent assistant" for Today and said her career was the main reason she didn't speak out against Lauer until 2017.

“When your job is to work with the talent, when these are people who have to be kept happy, their opinion of you can make or break your career," she explained. "Annoying them can mean you're never allowed on a set again — that changes the dynamic of every single interaction that you have."

“And another part of that is that any attention that they give you professionally, you feel is a positive thing that you are lucky to get," she continued. "And people who are in power know they're in power. That's something that they wield every single day. So when you're a person in power and you ask someone less powerful to do something, you have the responsibility to think about whether they are able to say no, whether they will feel comfortable saying no, whether they can be penalized for saying no.”

Lauer was fired swiftly after Nevils filed her complaint, a move that sparked additional allegations from several other women.

“Matt Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time," NBC expressed. "That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague.”

Lauer has maintained his innocence, calling his interaction with Nevils consensual.

"The story Brooke tells is filled with false details intended only to create the impression this was an abusive encounter. Nothing could be further from the truth. There was absolutely nothing aggressive about that encounter," he wrote in a lengthy statement to Variety in 2019. "Brooke did not do or say anything to object. She certainly did not cry. She was a fully enthusiastic and willing partner. At no time did she behave in a way that made it appear she was incapable of consent."