Matt Lauer and his second wife, Annette Roque, were months away from celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary when the TV host was hit by scandal. In November 2017, Lauer's contract as cohost of NBC's Today was terminated when he was accused of sexual misconduct. Lauer allegedly harassed a female staffer when they covered the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in 2014. (Lauer denied the accusation.) Lauer broke his silence months later by claiming he'd initially "remained silent" to "protect my family from further embarrassment and to restore a small degree of the privacy they have lost," though he now felt it was necessary to dispute "false stories from anonymous or biased sources." "Defending my family now requires me to speak up," Lauer said in a statement in April 2018. "I fully acknowledge that I acted inappropriately as a husband, father and principal at NBC. However I want to make it perfectly clear that any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false." Matt Lauer's Life After Misconduct Scandal: Where Is He After 'Today' Exit? Lauer retreated from the spotlight and has effectively been out of the news industry ever since. The scandal unquestionably had an impact on his marriage to Roque and his relationship with their three children: son Jack, born in June 2001, daughter Romy, born in October 2003, and son Thijs, born in November 2006. The #MeToo scandal was not actually the first time Lauer's marriage faced scrutiny. Keep scrolling for a timeline of the relationship. Matt Lauer's 1st Marriage Lasted 7 Years Matt Lauer was working at Providence, Rhode Island, local station WJAR-TV when he married producer Nancy Alspaugh in 1982. They were together for seven years but had no children. Alspaugh spoke out in Lauer's defense when he was fired by NBC in 2017. She told Entertainment Tonight at the time that she supported her ex-husband "100 percent." She also confirmed that she'd tipped off Lauer weeks earlier that investigative journalists were looking into his past. "I called him to let him know that a reporter had shown up at my door and was saying that some things were going to be coming out," Alspaugh said. "And when I called him, he thanked me for the call, and I got the contact of the reporter and he said of course none of it was true." Per Alspaugh, Lauer promised that "whatever [the reporters] were going to come out with was fabricated." "[The phone call] was just really about the fact that this reporter was on my step," Alspaugh added. "I think he was blindsided by the whole thing, but, like I said, what I want to get out there is the side of him that I know and that so many others know about him, which is the charming, want to help you in any way kind of guy he was." Alspaugh described Lauer as "a stand-up guy" as well as a "very giving person and charming" before suggesting that "some of the things that are being stated [about him] may not be true." "We have to find that out, you know? As time goes on here, people should be aware there's a family involved here," Alspaugh argued. "There are three children and that's - I think it's important to be aware that this can destroy a family. Reporting on accusations before they know whether they're real or not." Matt Lauer Met Annette Roque on a Blind Date Matt Lauer and Annette Roque reportedly met on a blind date in the summer of 1997. Lauer first publicly mentioned that he was dating Roque during a 1998 appearance on CNN's Larry King Live. He told host Larry King that he was "single but extremely committed and spoken for." The TV host revealed that he was dating someone "not in the media." While Lauer chose not to identify his girlfriend at the time, he said, "She is terrific. It has been about eight months now." The Today host even hinted that wedding bells were potentially on the horizon. "[It] was written someplace - that Matt's afraid of commitment. It's not at all true," he insisted. "I think it'll be something we'll look at each other one day and say boom - and it'll happen quickly. I really do." Matt Lauer and Annette Roque Wed in 1998 Per The Chicago Tribune, Matt Lauer wed Annette Roque at a Presbyterian church in Bridgehampton, New York, in October 1998. Lauer's best men were his Today predecessor Bryant Gumbel and his close friend John Horan. His then-current Today colleagues Katie Couric and Al Roker were both in attendance for the ceremony. Matt Lauer and Annette Roque Welcomed Their 1st Child in 2001 The Lauers welcomed their first child, son Jack Matthew, on June 26, 2001, in New York. Matt Lauer was 43 when Jack was born. Matt admitted to Good Housekeeping in 2007 that he put fatherhood on the back burner for years so he could focus on his career. Matt Lauer and Annette Lauer in November 2012. Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images "I was one of these people, especially early in my career, who balanced the equation too much in favor of my job; I spent most of my life focusing