Katie Couric thinks some of the reports about her former colleague Matt Lauer aren’t entirely true, but also that the scope of the sexual harassment allegations against him may extend beyond what the public currently knows. 
 
 “It’s been a very painful time for a lot of people who worked with Matt, knew him, really care about him, and who never witnessed or experienced any of this behavior that is now obviously being talked about,” Couric, 61, told Wendy Williams Tuesday. “I don’t know the full extent of all these things that happened. I can only talk about my personal experience and I was always treated respectfully and appropriately.” 
 
 Couric added that a potential comeback for her former “Today” show co-anchor, who was fired in November 2017 for “inappropriate sexual behavior” at NBC, would be “challenging” at best. 
 
 “The full extent of what has happened, I don’t think has been truly revealed,” she said. “A lot of stuff gets misreported and blown out of proportion.” 
 
 The former Yahoo! anchor also took issue specifically with reports that Lauer had a button under his desk to lock his door, behind which a lot of inappropriate activity allegedly took place. 
 
 “A lot of NBC executives make it sound like some den of inequity,” Couric said. “A lot of NBC executives have those buttons that open and close doors. It was really just a privacy thing … I think it was just an executive perk that some people opted to have, but I don’t think it was a nefarious thing, and I think that’s been misconstrued.” 
 
 Couric also apologized for previously joking about Lauer’s alleged misconduct. 
 
 In 2012, Couric said on “Watch What Happens Live” that when she and Lauer, 60, worked together, “He pinches me on the ass a lot.” 
 
 “I was joking! It was a total joke,” she said on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” on Tuesday night. “In fact, when that started circulating, Andy, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I was on “Watch What Happens Live.”’ It was so antithetical to the nature of our relationship — I thought it would be funny because it was so weird,” she stammered. “It was totally a joke, but I was sorry I had made that joke because people misconstrued it.” 
 
 It wasn’t the only time Couric joked about Lauer’s bad behavior at work, having previously spoken at a top-secret roast in 2008 that featured plenty of material about Lauer’s sexual proclivities in the workplace. 
 
 Lauer himself has been largely silent on the allegations against him until last week, when he released a statement claiming that while he admitted to being a poor husband and behaving inappropriately at work, “any allegations or reports of coercive, aggressive or abusive actions on my part, at any time, are absolutely false.” ||||| Katie Couric stopped by the Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen Clubhouse on May 1. During her appearance, the TV news anchor spoke about the allegations of sexual misconduct surrounding her former Today show colleague Matt Lauer. And she also clarified some of her own comments that resurfaced after news of the scandal broke. 
 
 "You've already spoken about it ad nauseam, but I have to ask," Andy began. "The day the Matt Lauer thing broke, you started trending on Twitter immediately because a clip surfaced of you on [WWHL] from 2012. I played Plead the Fifth with you and I said to you, what's Matt Lauer's most annoying habit? And you said he used to pinch you on the ass. I laughed thinking you were joking. Were you joking?" Watch the clip above to hear Couric's response and watch the clip below to see the 2012 moment Andy referenced. 
 
 Watch What Happens Live Matt Lauer's Most Annoying Habit Katie Couric dishes some dirt on Matt Lauer on 'Plead the Fifth.' 
 
 Earlier in the day, the Today show alum also spoke about Lauer during her appearance on The Wendy Williams Show. "It’s been a very painful time for a lot of people who worked with Matt, knew him, and care about him, who never witnessed this behavior that is now obviously being talked about,” Couric shared. “I don’t know the full extent of all these things that happened. I can only talk about my personal experience and I was always treated respectfully and appropriately.” ||||| Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) 
 
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 Matt Lauer allegedly sexually harassed a female NBC staffer during the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, sources told Page Six. 
 
 An NBC insider said Lauer’s alleged victim complained to HR on Monday: “This happened so quickly. She didn’t go to the media, she made a complaint to NBC’s human resources, and her evidence was so compelling that Matt was fired on Tuesday night. The victim says she has evidence that this has also happened to other women, but so far we don’t have evidence of that.” 
 
 Sources initially told The Post that Lauer had been accused of sexual assault during the Sochi Olympics, but later said it was inappropriate sexual behavior. 
 
 Another source tells us that the decision to fire Lauer was made late Tuesday by NBC News chairman Andy Lack. 
 
 The woman’s lawyer, Ari Wilkenfeld, said they met with NBC officials on Monday evening. 
 
 “My client and I met with representatives from NBC’s Human Resources and Legal Department at 6 p.m. on Monday. Over the course of several hours, my client detailed egregious acts of sexual harassment and misconduct by Mr. Lauer,” Wilkenfeld said in a statement. 
 
 “In fewer than 35 hours, NBC investigated and removed Mr. Lauer. Our impression at this point is that NBC acted quickly and responsibly, as all companies should when confronted with credible allegations about sexual misconduct in the workplace.” 
 
 “While I am impressed by NBC’s response to date, I am awed by the courage my client showed to be the first to raise a complaint and to do so without making any demands other than asking the company do the right thing. This is how the system should work,” he added. 
 
 Lauer’s firing comes amid rumors that several news outlets were working on stories about his alleged sexual misconduct. 
 
 Reporters for the New York Times had been investigating Lauer for several weeks, according to sources who had been contacted by the paper, CNN reported. 
 
 His agent, Ken Lindner, did not immediately respond to calls and emails seeking comment. 
 
 Lauer’s co-anchor Savannah Guthrie made the stunning announcement Wednesday morning at the top of the show by reading a statement from Lack. 
 
 “On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer. It represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company’s standards. As a result, we’ve decided to terminate his employment,” Lack wrote. 
 
 “While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident,” he continued. 
 
 “Our highest priority is to create a workplace environment where everyone feels safe and protected, and to ensure that any actions that run counter to our core values are met with consequences, no matter who the offender. 
 
 “We are deeply saddened by this turn of events. But we will face it together as a news organization — and do it in as transparent a manner as we can.” 
 
 A visibly shaken Guthrie, who has worked with Lauer since 2012, said she was informed about his ouster just a few moments before going on the air. 
 
 “We just learned this moments ago, just this morning. As I’m sure you can imagine, we are devastated and we are still processing all of this,” she said. 
 
 “And I will tell you right now, we do not know more than what I just shared with you. But we will be covering this story as reporters, as journalists. I’m sure we will be learning more details in the hours and days to come, and we promise we will share that with you.” 
 
 She added: “We are heartbroken. I’m heartbroken for Matt — he is my dear, dear friend and my partner, and he has been loved by many, many people here. And I’m heartbroken for the brave colleague who came forward to tell her story, and any other women who have their own stories to tell.” 
 
 In her segment “Megyn Kelly Today” later in the morning, Kelly — who left Fox News channel after accusing former CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment — delivered a personal statement about the allegations. 
 
 “This one does hit close to home. I too have known Matt for a long time and he has been a friend and kind and supportive to me in my transition to NBC News,” she said. 
 
 “And I see the anguish on my colleagues’ faces. But when this happens, what we don’t see is the pain on the faces of those who found the courage to come forward and it is a terrifying thing to do. 
 
 “I have been at another news channel where this happened, as you know, and my experience is a news organization is bigger than any one person. They all face challenges, they all stumble, but the good ones stay standing and forge forward fulfilling their core mission: Journalism.” 
 
 Guthrie’s co-host Hoda Kotb called it a “tough morning,” noting that she has known Lauer for years and “loved him as a friend and a colleague.” 
 
 “It’s hard to reconcile with what we are hearing with the man who we know, who walks in this building every single day,” Kotb said. “We were both woken up with the news, kind of pre-dawn, and we’re trying to process it and trying to make sense of it — and it’ll take some time for that.” 
 
 “Today” star Kathie Lee Gifford said Lauer deserves forgiveness 
 
 “I’m grappling with, should I even share something? But I guess I really should,” Gifford, 64, said during the 10 a.m. hour of the “Today” show. 
 
 “I don’t feel that Matt has betrayed us in any way at all, but when I found out that my husband [Frank Gifford] had betrayed me, you question your own judgment. You say, ‘Was everything a lie?’ And I think we have to very much fight against that, that the man we know and adored was the man we loved and adored and continue to.” 
 
 Al Roker, who was giving the weather report, also was visibly upset, saying that he was “trying to process” the news about his friend of three decades. 
 
 Lauer’s axing comes a week after CBS News fired one of its own morning anchors, Charlie Rose, after several women accused the “CBS This Morning” co-host of sexual misconduct. 
 
 President Trump reacted to the news on Twitter. 
 
 “Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for ‘inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.’ But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack’s past!” 
 
 Comcast is NBC’s parent company. 
 
 Lauer, 59, was named co-anchor of “Today” in January 1997 after three years as the news reader. 
 
 His wife, Annette, famously filed for divorce in 2006, accusing him of “cruel and inhumane” behavior, but withdrew the filing a month later after they reached a private agreement. 
 
 They ostensibly live separate lives — she lives full time in the Hamptons with their children, while Matt resides in the city during the week. 
 
 Additional reporting by Max Jaeger
– That infamous privacy button that Matt Lauer had under his desk was an “executive perk” rather than a “nefarious thing” used to trap women in his office, Katie Couric told Wendy Williams on Williams' show Tuesday. “A lot of NBC executives have those buttons that open and close doors. It was really just a privacy thing,” Couric said, per Page Six. "A lot of stuff gets misreported and blown out of proportion." Lauer's former longtime colleague is struggling to reconcile her own experiences with the disgraced NBC host and what others have said about him. Couric said that Lauer always treated her "respectfully and appropriately," but added that it would likely be "challenging" for Lauer to experience a comeback. “I think it depends on ... how he decides to handle what has happened. And the full extent of what has happened, I don’t think has been truly revealed," she added. Later Tuesday, she went on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live and cleared up another misunderstanding related to Lauer. For the record, she was joking when she told the show in 2012 that Lauer "pinches me on the ass a lot." "I was joking! It was a total joke," she told host Andy Cohen.