Former “Today Show” co-host Ann Curry said Wednesday that she was “not surprised” when she heard of the sexual misconduct allegations against her former co-host Matt Lauer.
Curry was cautious during her interview on CBS’ “This Morning” and rarely directly answer questions about Lauer because she said she was “trying to do no harm in these conversations.”
“I can tell you that I — I am not surprised by the allegations,” she said.
NBC fired Lauer in November as multiple women came forward accusing him of sexual harassment and assault. It has been widely speculated that Curry was pushed out of “Today” in 2012 because she and Lauer had a bad relationship. Curry was the show’s anchor for 15 years and only co-anchored with Lauer from 2011 to 2012. She left NBC in 2015 and is now returning to TV to host a new show on PBS.
Curry said there was a culture of “verbal” and “sexual” harassment during her time with “Today.”
“I can say that I would be surprised if, if — many women did not understand that there was a climate of verbal harassment — that existed,” she said. “I think it’d be surprising if someone said that they didn’t see that. So it was p— a verbal, sexual—.”
“This Morning” host Norah O’Donnell stepped in and said “she just said verbal sexual harassment was pervasive.”
“Yeah,” Curry said and confirmed it was going on during her time at NBC.
Curry told the host they should “ask someone else” about whether Lauer was behind her firing.
“I don’t know what was all behind it. I do know that — it hurt like hell,” she said. “It wasn’t a fun moment. I’ve learned a great deal about myself. I’ve really at this point let it go. … I think that the real question, in my view, is what are we going to do with all of this anger?”
Watch the interview below:
