Matt Lauer said working at the "Today" show after Ann Curry was fired in a very public manner, was "disappointing" for him, according to FOX News.
"The way the media treated what happened with Ann Curry was a disappointing learning experience," Lauer said in an interview with Esquire. "I was disappointed by the laziness of the media, the willingness to read a rumor, repeat that rumor, and treat it as a fact."
While Lauer said that his salary has never been correctly reported in the media, he still feels that he makes too much to be able to get away with complaining about his troubles.
"Does anyone want to see a person who's making the money that newspapers say I'm making complaining, 'Woe is me, my life is terrible, and people are being unfair'?" Lauer told the magazine. "No one would've had any patience for that.
"So you just shut up and go about doing your job and hope that people who know you well - your friends and your family - know what's true," Lauer continued.
Lauer also said that regardless of the recent criticism he has faced from the media, he is still grateful for the experiences he has had during his time working at the "Today" show.
"If I were to write a contract and put it in front of a group of young broadcasters and journalists, and on this piece of paper it said, 'You're going to have 20 years as host of the 'Today' show, and 18 of those years are going to be so unbelievably fantastic that you're going to think you're living in a fantasy world and one or two of those years is going to be incredibly frustrating and challenging,' don't you think every single one of those young broadcasters and journalists would grab that paper out of my hand and sign on the dotted line?"
There was a lot of negative attention after Curry was fired, including some that reflected negatively on Lauer, including a book that said Curry was "tortured" during her tenure with the show. Lauer was also called out on Twitter by a former intern.
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