{"id":52506,"date":"2017-12-04T00:39:26","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T00:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=52506"},"modified":"2017-12-04T00:39:26","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T00:39:26","slug":"matt-lauer-wife-annette-roque-living-separate-lives-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=52506","title":{"rendered":"Matt Lauer and wife Annette Roque have been living separate lives for years"},"content":{"rendered":"

No one could understand why the blushing bride had her dashing husband on such a tight leash.<\/p>\n

Five weeks after their chic Hamptons wedding in 1998, former model Annette Roque kicked up such a fuss on hearing that Matt Lauer was heading to Florida to cover a space shuttle launch for the \u201cToday\u201d show that NBC staffers had to scramble to get her a set of last-minute press credentials so her husband would never be out of her sight.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFriends of Lauer\u2019s are stunned that the down-to-earth newsman is suddenly catering to such indulgent whims,\u201d Page Six reported at the time. \u201cOffers one insider: \u2018He\u2019s whipped.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But in hindsight, Roque, now 52, simply may have been trying to rein in her new husband\u2019s wandering eye \u2014 a problem that, two decades later, would cost him his job.<\/p>\n

Roque, perhaps the most overlooked victim in the sordid Matt Lauer scandal, is now reportedly hiding from the press in the Hamptons, as many wonder if she\u2019ll finally free herself from a disastrous marriage that had been an open secret in media circles for years.<\/p>\n

Lauer, 59, was fired as the long-term host of \u201cToday\u201d on Tuesday night, less than 24 hours after an NBC employee brought accusations of sexual harassment to company officials. As many as seven other women have since come forward with similar accusations. A Variety story claimed that the TV anchor \u201chad a button under his desk that allowed him to lock his door from the inside without getting up,\u201d so he could \u201cinitiate inappropriate contact\u201d without fearing that someone might walk in.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lauer\u2019s reclusive wife has kept quiet. For the last decade, the waifish mother-of-three and her husband have led separate lives, with Roque sticking to the couple\u2019s properties in ritzy Sag Harbor, Long Island, while Lauer remains in their Park Avenue apartment during the week, insiders said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she goes out to dinner, it\u2019s always with Matt and one other couple,\u201d a source in the restaurant world told The Post. \u201cI\u2019ve seen her in Manhattan only once or twice, and she\u2019s painfully frail.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, while Lauer spent his days hosting one of America\u2019s most popular morning shows, Roque has honed her equestrian skills at the boutique 40-acre horse farm that the couple constructed near their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I see her, she\u2019s always in riding clothes,\u201d said one local.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a far cry from the couple\u2019s high-profile start, when the two were toasted by a glittering power crowd at a 1998 wedding that, People magazine claimed, \u201cput a serious dent in the fantasy lives of multitudes of early-rising American women.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was a Victoria\u2019s Secret and J. Crew model with an exotic background \u2014 part-Indonesian, part-Dutch. He was the highly eligible, nationally famous newsman whose romantic exploits had been tabloid fodder ever since his last marriage ended in divorce in 1988. But even though he was a playboy, he was a prude, colleagues said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was incredibly worried about his image\u201d and balked at covering risqu\u00e9 stories, said an insider who worked with Lauer at New York\u2019s WOR-TV in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe bought Annette a $100,000 horse, and we said, \u2018Well, Matt must have been caught cheating again\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

 – Source<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI had to do an hour-and-a-half on women who fake orgasm,\u201d Lauer complained of his previous job in a 1997 interview, shortly after he started hosting \u201cToday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I look like the kind of guy who\u2019d be comfortable doing that for half a minute, much less an hour and a half? That\u2019s how low it got. I couldn\u2019t wait to get off that program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, NBC brass feared that Lauer\u2019s playboy ways could hurt his reputation with \u201cToday\u2019s\u201d largely female viewership. Execs urged him to settle down.<\/p>\n

Less than a year after meeting Roque on a blind date in 1997, he proposed to her \u2014 in Venice, while on assignment for his regular \u201cWhere in the World is Matt Lauer?\u201d segment.<\/p>\n

As the wedding neared, Roque was a shadowy presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d say, \u2018This woman is a phantom. She doesn\u2019t exist,\u2019\u201d Lauer colleague Elizabeth Vargas told People magazine shortly after their October 3, 1998 nuptials. \u201cWe teased Matt,\u201d Vargas said, when he explained that his fiance \u2014 who modeled under the name Jade Roque \u2014 was frequently away on photo shoots.<\/p>\n

Only 100 guests were invited to their intimate Bridgehampton wedding, including Katie Couric, Ann Curry, best man Bryant Gumbel, and actor Peter Gallagher.<\/p>\n

Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n