Jennifer Aniston Felt ‘Devastated’ After Learning About Matt Lauer’s Sexual Misconduct Scandal

She couldn’t believe it. Jennifer Aniston is getting ready to star in the new Apple TV+ drama The Morning Show next month. Since the show involves her male colleague on the series getting fired over sexual misconduct allegations — which is very similar to Matt Lauer’s scandal — the subject of the former Today show host came up in an interview with The Chicago Tribune.

Aniston said she re-watched the Today show episode from the day before Lauer was fired to prepare for the new role. “Did he know? Did he not know?” she asked herself. When the allegations against him came to light, the 50-year old told the outlet, “I was so devastated. It’s such a strange thing; it felt oddly like my dad did something terrible. I trusted him and had been interviewed by him. He was there for so many moments in my life. And when Friends was ending, it was Katie [Couric] and Matt interviewing us.”

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Aniston said the original pilot for The Morning Show was actually completely re-written after Lauer was fired from the Today show in November 2017. “The show got picked up. We sold it to Apple with an outline. Then, about four months later, the whole s–t hit the fan and, basically, we had to start from scratch,” she explained.

Lauer was fired as the host of Today after a colleague accused him of sexual harassment. Savannah Guthrie confirmed the news on the show, alongside Hoda Kotb, and Aniston said she watched that episode to prepare for her role, too. Lauer has kept out of the public eye since, although he did return to social media on his daughter Romy Lauer’s TikTok page in two videos on Monday, October 7.

However, when it comes to Steve Carell’s disgraced character and his similarities to Lauer, the Dumplin‘ actress insisted, “Mitch Kessler is not based on him at all. He’s just sort of the archetype of all of the men that he’s representing.” She added that the characters on the show are “kind of highlighting aspects of the archetype of a charming narcissist, of a generation of men that didn’t think that was bad behavior. ‘That’s just the way it works. And men are flirts and women are coy and find it flattering.’ And thankfully, with the sacrifices of these women who have come forward, this isn’t going to happen anymore. It’s wonderful that you’re accountable and you have to check yourself.” We agree.