Ann Curry Breaks Silence On Matt Lauer Allegations

The TV journalist is speaking out.

On Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, Ann Curry gave her first television interview since leaving the Today show five years ago. During an appearance on CBS This Morning, she opened up about Matt Lauer's shocking termination from NBC News after he was accused of nearly two decades' worth of sexual harassment and sexual assault in November 2017.

"I am not surprised by the allegations," the 61-year-old newswoman, who seemed hesitant to discuss the scandal, told Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell. 

"Now I'm walking down that road," Curry continued. "I'm trying not to hurt people. I know what it's like to be publicly humiliated. I never did anything wrong to be publicly humiliated, and I don't want to cause that kind of pain to somebody else."

She added, "I can say that I would be surprised if many women did not understand that there was a climate of verbal harassment that existed. I think it would be surprising if someone said that they didn't see that. So, it was verbal sexual harassment."

Curry, whose former colleague Katie Couric recently discussed Lauer's firing, went on to state that women speaking out against sexual abuse is "overdue." She explained, "We clearly are waking up to a reality and injustice that has been occurring for some time, and I think it will continue to occur until the glass ceiling is finally broken." 

"This is about power and power imbalance, where women are not valued as much as men. I'm not talking about people being attracted to other people," the We'll Meet Again host continued. "I'm talking about people in the workplace who are powerful who are abusing that power and women and men are suffering. And I think the act that people are speaking out is important. The fact that we are moving against this imbalance of power is absolutely overdue."

When King asked whether there was any truth to public speculation that Lauer had "derailed" Curry's career at the Today show, she simply replied, "You'll have to ask someone else. It hurt like hell." 

However, Curry did reveal the one thing she's learned about herself since leaving the popular morning show. "When we open our arms wide to life, all the good and the bad, if we can just open ourselves wide to it and embrace it," she said. "We can learn what we need to learn and we can go on and become better people."

While we wait to hear more from Curry, read up on other celeb reactions to the Matt Lauer scandal.