Fired sex creep Matt Lauer has been forced to sell his ritzy Hamptons mansion as he desperately scrapes together cash to pay his estranged wife Annette Roque’s whopping $20 million settlement — so she’ll keep her mouth shut, insiders dish.
Part of the massive settlement just hammered out includes a no-tattling clause that stops Annette from blabbing embarrassing secrets that could keep the disgusting perv from landing another high-paying TV gig, sources say.
“Annette is calling all the shots in the divorce. She has him by the short hairs,” spills a source. “It is not out of some sense of guilt or remorse that is behind Matt giving Annette everything — it is out of fear of what she could say or do.
“He still thinks he can return to TV someday, and the divorce will include an ironclad nondisclosure agreement. “Her silence is worth more than any houses or money. There will not be a tell-all book.”
PHOTOS: Lecher Matt Lauer Is ‘Freaking’ Out Over Katie Couric’s New Tell-All
But divvying up his $44 million fortune isn’t easy for Matt, 61, who bought the 12-bedroom Hamptons mansion from Richard Gere a year before divorce papers were filed. He lived there with Annette and their sons Jack, 18, and Thijs, 12, and daughter Romy, 15.
Now the disgraced former Today anchor wants to get the divorce over quickly for the kids and so he can work on his comeback, sources say.
Annette reportedly gets two Hamptons spreads, while the fate of their $9 million family farm in New Zealand is uncertain.
Once the divorce is finalized, Matt’s expected to head back to Manhattan, where he used to stay during the week while working for NBC and feels at home.
“What Matt misses most is his job,” says the source. “The show and the staff were everything to him. He loved being the king of the studio and having business lunches and dinners.
“He’s since found many of his co-workers were only ‘friends’ when he was powerful. “Now that he’s been exiled in disgrace, they don’t want to be around him anymore.
PHOTOS: Disgraced Matt Lauer Is In Secret Talks With Pal Bryant Gumbel For A Job
“Only Hoda Kotb has stayed in touch. Everyone else has dumped him.”
Meanwhile, Annette has carved out a life in the posh Long Island enclave. Even when they were married, she would see Matt only on weekends — when he would spend most of that time playing golf, spills the source.
Now, the fired fiend, who reportedly had a hidden button in his dressing room so he could secretly lock the door after luring gals inside, is launching a shocking comeback plan — as revenge against those who now snub him.
He’s said to be furious over recently being cut out of a 25-year Today celebration video. “Matt was shocked and hurt to be edited out,” notes the source. “He made that show number one for decades and the way he has been treated is disgusting.
“This was a deliberate decision to erase him and it hurts like hell.
“He messed up. But to pretend he never existed is cruel.” Insiders at Today warn Matt has a few bombshell revelations he could drop to embarrass his former colleagues at the network.
“He said he would never talk bad about the show, but after this he might rethink that,” adds the snitch.
