Who Is Matt Lauer’s Wife, Former Model Annette Roque?

Before her estranged husband, Matt Lauer, was fired from NBC and the Today show, Annette Roque was able to live a relatively low-key life of privilege, mostly in the Hamptons. Annette Roque lived full time with the three Lauer children, Jack, Romy, and Thijs Lauer, while Matt Lauer lived during the week in NYC. However, after Matt Lauer was suddenly terminated, the spotlight was focused on their marriage, and the already strained relationship blew up.

Annette Roque Looks Relaxed While Taking A Break With Friends In Her Native Netherlands

Now, Annette Roque has fled to her native Netherlands for a break from the media storm, but in lieu of a comment or a statement from Roque, what is known about Annette Roque, the former Dutch model at the center of Matt Lauer’s pending divorce?

Most of what is known so far about Annette Roque is through friends and the statement that her divorce lawyer released back in 2006, the first time Roque filed for divorce amidst Lauer cheating rumors.

“Defendant [Matt Lauer] has continuously and repeatedly given higher priority to … personal interests than his family obligations to plaintiff, causing plaintiff to feel abandoned, isolated and alone in raising the parties’ children.”

Annette Roque dropped the complaint at the time, but friends claim that Roque and Lauer have lived separate lives.

Matt Lauer's Wife, Annette Roque, Is Reportedly "Taking Time for Herself in Amsterdam": https://t.co/SI0YCvssb5 pic.twitter.com/8LQ3135fVg

— TOWN&COUNTRY (@TandCmag) February 8, 2018

Before Meeting Matt Lauer, Annette Roque Had A Successful Modeling Career In Paris And NYC

Town & Country says that Annette Roque was finally spotted with a smile on her face back in her native Netherlands with friends. Annette Roque was out and about, photographed laughing at a popular restaurant called Rijks.

“They were drinking red wine, and Annette did not have her wedding ring on. She was laughing through the whole lunch.”

But what few people know is that before she married Lauer, Annette Roque was a successful model, working for J.Crew and Victoria’s Secret. Roque is of Dutch and Indonesian ancestry and went by the name Jade Roque professionally while she modeled clothing, lingerie, and cosmetics.

Annette Roque and Matt Lauer were set up on a blind date by a stylist friend, Maria Santoro.

“They had a drink, he got her number, and that was it.”

Annette Roque and Matt Lauer married in 1998 in an intimate ceremony. It was the first marriage for Roque and the second for Lauer. The family bought an estate in the Hamptons and a local horse farm called Brightside Farm in Water Mill in 2012. Annette Roque and daughter Romy are avid horsewomen.

In 2014, Matt Lauer boasted to the press that Roque and daughter Romy Lauer love to ride.

“We have a horse farm here in the Hamptons. My wife and daughter ride like crazy. And so we love the competition.”

Annette Roque Quit Modeling To Be A Full-Time Wife And Mother, Living Mostly In The Hamptons

After marrying Matt Lauer, Annette Roque quit modeling and became a full-time wife and mother, but French modeling agent Patrick Lemire, who discovered Roque in Paris, says that Roque had the beauty and talent to make it big, says People Magazine. He said the combination of her Dutch mother and her Indonesian-French father gave her unusual beauty.

“[Roque had] perfect exotic looks.”

Annette Roque was highly in demand in Europe and the United States for print work in ads and catalogs, but she stopped working after she married Lauer.

But the marriage of Matt Lauer and Annette Roque seems to have always been bumpy, with Matt Lauer giving public statements over the years, denying that the couple had separated when he started spending the weekdays in NYC while Annette and the Lauer children stayed in the Hamptons.

“Have we had a completely perfect, easy marriage? No. But the stories you’ve read over the years are not true. I don’t think we’re any different than any married couple that’s been together for 12 years. The accusations [of infidelity] are ridiculous and I’m not going to [dignify] them with an answer. It’s not true.”

Annette Roque rarely spoke out about her marriage over the years, usually leaving that to Lauer or her legal team, but after the 2010 rumors, Roque stated that the couple had weathered the storm.

“We have worked through it.”