How Brooke Nevils rebuilt her life after a difficult chapter
Brooke Nevils, the former NBC producer who accused Matt Lauer of rape
In 2017, Brooke Nevils bravely went to NBC’s human resources to report that Matt Lauer had raped her during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
Shocked by the network’s swift action, Lauer was fired the next day, Nevils soon faced an unexpected ordeal: being publicly outed as his accuser.
“The overnight leak changed everything,” she tells PEOPLE. “There were men outside my apartment, notes under my door. My life as I knew it ended.” Coping with the backlash, Nevils struggled with heavy drinking, shame, and eventually a mental breakdown that led to a psychiatric stay.
Her new memoir, Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Tell, details not just her experience with Lauer, but the larger issues of power dynamics and sexual assault in the workplace. “I never had any power,” Nevils says. “People in positions of power know it, and it’s their responsibility to behave appropriately.”
Despite the trauma, Nevils wanted to share her story to give a voice to survivors navigating similar situations. “I want people to know they’re not alone, and that they never should have been put in that position,” she explains. She has since received countless messages from women seeking guidance about coming forward.
Today, Nevils has rebuilt her life. She’s married, a mother of two, and determined to help others. “You did what you had to do, and you still deserve to live your life and be proud of who you are,” she says.
