Megyn Kelly sat down on Today with Addie Collins Zinone, 41, the woman who claims that she had a sexual affair with Matt Lauer 17 years ago, when she was a 24-year-old production assistant on the NBC morning show — where Matt was recently fired for alleged sexual misconduct. Their alleged affair was completely consensual, but she told Megyn that she wanted to come forward with her story to “put a face and a story to these women’s accusations.” Unfortunately, some people aren’t praising her for her courage, but calling her names for starting a sexual relationship with a married man. Addie alleges that people have called her a “slut” and a “whore” after reading her story, first published by our sister site Variety.
Her point was immediately proven in the comments attached to the below video on Twitter. If you click in, there are hundreds of people trying to discredit her story and blaming her for having an affair. “Ok, you knew it was wrong, you knew he was wrong but still had an affair with a married man so you are no better then he is and therefore committed sexual harassment as well .. I am not condoning Matt Lauer at all, but I’m sure you were taught right from wrong!!”, one person tweeted. These people are forgetting that while the alleged sex was consensual, the Today anchor was in a position of power over a younger woman, and took advantage of that.
“It’s difficult to talk about,” Addie told Megyn. “My family is shattered by this; they’re afraid for me. This all trickles down to a lot of people being affected, so having these conversations is really important. But also, there’s a lot of shame attached to what I did. My goal was to try to get him to see me as a human being, so it seems odd I would continually go see him, but it seemed like an opportunity to get him to see me as a human being.
Former TODAY staffer Addie Collins Zinone shares her story about Matt Lauer on @MegynTODAY pic.twitter.com/EJzZc0KNKA
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 18, 2017
[The affair] was a massive mistake and I know who I am at my core and the core values I have, but of course you carry shame. He has a wife. I don’t want to pour salt on these wounds, and that’s a really scary thing. You do carry that your whole life. you’re thinking…why could I not get out of it? Why did I do that?” Addie said the affair began after Matt allegedly sent her a series of inappropriate texts. She claims that later, he hit on her while they were at a professional lunch. She thought he was going to give her career advice. Over the next month, they allegedly had a consensual affair.
HollywoodLifers, are you shocked by Addie’s interview? Let us know.