Annette Roque, Wife Of Matt Lauer, Spotted In NYC Meeting With Divorce Lawyers
Sources close to disgraced ex-Today show host Matt Lauer and wife Annette Roque have said that Roque had planned to stick with her family through the holidays and avoid making any moves toward divorce until the new year. But something has changed; now, Annette Roque has started shopping for lawyers. Since the Matt Lauer sex abuse scandal broke, Annette Roque had not been photographed outside of the Hamptons — until now. Yesterday, cameras caught Annette Roque in New York City visiting divorce lawyers, planning for her next step away from Lauer and breaking their post-nuptial agreement they made the last time their marriage was severely tested.
Annette Roque has understandably been traumatized by revelations that Matt Lauer is accused of sexually assaulting and abusing women he worked with at Today. But Annette Roque had known before that she didn’t have a storybook marriage because she has filed for divorce back before back in 2006.
Annette Roque And Matt Lauer Signed A Post-Nuptial Agreement in 2006
The court papers filed by Annette Roque spell out her claims that she was in the marriage all alone.
“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.”
Sources close to Lauer and Roque said that Roque was convinced to drop her request for a divorce after working out a post-nuptial agreement that gave Annette Roque more money if she stayed married, reportedly to preserve his reputation on Today as a family man. This new agreement is said to have given Roque an additional $5 million in the event of a future split.
Annette Roque Seems To Have Secured A Divorce Lawyer
But something has changed for Annette Roque, because a week ago, friends said she wasn’t going to make any moves toward divorce until after the holidays. Now she has been photographed by Page Six leaving the office of a divorce lawyer in New York City looking thin, frail, and tired.
Roque, who was described as “grim-faced,” was photographed leaving the offices of Latham & Watkins in NYC on Wednesday, where sources say she is making a game plan to squeeze more out of her agreement with Matt Lauer, who was dismissed from Today and NBC at the beginning of December for “inappropriate sexual behavior.”
Sources close to Annette Roque say that she is not willing to just settle for what was agreed upon in the post-nuptial agreement, because in recent years, Lauer has made $25 million annually in salary from Today.
“The post-nup will likely specify how much Annette would get if they divorce, but she is expected to challenge it given Matt’s earnings since 2006, and given how he has humiliated her. There are also issues with all the property and land they own, both in the Hamptons and abroad.”
Annette Roque has been the primary caretaker of the three Lauer children: Jack, Romy, and Thijs (pronounced “Tice”).
Matt Lauer’s Wife Annette Roque Fears More Accusers Coming Forward: She ‘Can’t Handle It’ https://t.co/ofQZqM0m4a via @HollywoodLife
— Anette Fekete (@SweetAnette96) December 19, 2017
Annette Roque And Matt Lauer’s Divorce Now Seems “Imminent”
While sources said that before the last woman came forward to claim Matt Lauer manipulated her into a sexual relationship at the Today show, Annette Roque wanted to avoid the public and stay in with Matt Lauer and the Lauer children through the holidays. Now, however, “divorce seems imminent,” says Hollywood Life.
Another topic of conversation between Annette Roque and her divorce lawyers is the property that Matt Lauer and Annette Roque bought in New Zealand. What had seemed like a great investment opportunity is now up in the air due to Matt Lauer’s firing due to improper sexual behavior at the Today show.
New Zealand officials released a statement saying that they were checking to see if Lauer violated the “good character” clause in his real estate deal that might force him to sell his 27,000-acre sheep and cattle farm in Hunter Valley Station, New Zealand. Roque reportedly wants to know where she stands in this arrangement.
