The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:26 PM

Sex Therapist Says She Recalls Giving Former Today Host Matt Lauer Bag Of Sex Toys Meredith Vieira Joked About In 2016

Former “Today” show co-host Meredith Vieira joked about the time she went into Matt Lauer’s office and found “a huge bag of sex toys” in a resurfaced video from 2016 – and now a therapist is claiming she was the one who gave him the goods.

Dr. Laura Berman, who was a regular guest on the “Today” show, told Inside Edition Friday she reportedly gave the fallen TV journalist sex toys to help him spice up his troubled 19-year marriage with his wife, former model Annette Roque.

She claimed the 59-year-old sought advice when cameras weren’t rolling.


“We were in the makeup room and he sort of asked the makeup artist to leave,” said Dr. Berman. “He asked me about sexual aids and devices. He confided in me about some of the struggles he was having in his married relationship.”

Dr. Berman insisted Lauer didn’t want to be outed buying sex toys in a store. The therapist also added she is able to speak about Lauer because he is not a patient of hers.

“I brought him a shopping bag filled with toys from my line that were designed for couples, spicing things up,” she claimed.

According to Dr. Berman’s site, she’s a sex and relationship educator and therapist who “has helped countless couples build stronger relationships, improve their sex lives, and achieve a heightened level of intimacy through her TV and radio shows, books, columns and website, along with her private practice based in Chicago.”

She has also written several books on “sexual health and pleasure.”

In May 2016, Lauer appeared on “The Meredith Vieira Show” with his then-co-host Savannah Guthrie, and Vieira recalled the time she went “snooping” in his office and discovered the bag of sex toys.

“You had a huge bag of sex toys, yes you did, in your closet, Matt,” Vieira told her studio audience.

Lauer then attempted to explain the explicit toys.

“Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute,” he responded. “We had a guest on the show who was a sex therapist. I think you (Vieira) did the segment, actually.”

Vieira, looking confused, said she did not do the segment.

Lauer continued that the sex therapist gave “each of us a shopping bag of stuff.”

Vieira replied she did not receive anything.

A flustered Lauer then said he did not know what to do with the sex toys and left them in his closet.

Lauer was fired last week after he was found to have carried on “inappropriate sexual behavior” with a female colleague. A shocking report in Variety detailed multiple claims of crude behavior by the morning show star.

Among the allegations: that Lauer once gave a colleague a sex toy with an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her; that he exposed himself to another female co-worker; that he would question female producers about their sex lives; and that he would talk about which co-hosts he would like to sleep with.

Variety also reported Lauer had a secret button under his desk that allowed him to lock his office door remotely, affording him privacy for his sexual conquests.

The New York Times later reported that Lauer allegedly “summoned” a married co-worker to his office for sex in 2001 and had sex intensely with her over the back of his chair until she fainted and had to be taken to a nurse.

Roque has since reportedly left their New York home and jetted off to her native country the Netherlands to escape public scrutiny after the bombshell accounts.

Lauer and Roque’s marriage has been reportedly rocky since 2006. Roque filed for divorce in 2006 but did not follow through, People reported. He allegedly offered his estranged wife $5 million to stay in the marriage. However, the celebrity magazine added it was no secret that Lauer regularly cheated on his wife.

Dr. Berman was shocked by the allegations.

“I’m sort of crestfallen if any of those toys were used to harass any colleagues or any women,” she said.