Megyn Kelly on Matt Lauer: 'I had heard rumors about Matt'

Business Insider

Megyn Kelly at Business Insider's IGNITION conference.

• Megyn Kelly said she had no idea that Matt Lauer would be fired from NBC over complaints of inappropriate sexual behavior.
• She offered praise for women that have come forward to report sexual misconduct.
• Kelly's comments came at Business Insider's IGNITION conference.

NBC host Megyn Kelly said she had no idea when she woke up on Wednesday that her now-former colleague, "Today" host Matt Lauer, would be fired over an allegation of inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.

During an interview at Business Insider's IGNITION conference in New York, Kelly said that although she'd heard rumors about Lauer in the past, she did not know the extent of the allegations until Wednesday.

"I had heard rumors about Matt, but that's all they were. And my feeling on it was that rumors are not the same as reportable fact," Kelly said. "And I hear a lot of rumors about myself that aren't true."

"I had no inside knowledge at all, but I knew people were sniffing around the issue, and hoped it wasn't true," she told Business Insider US editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell.

On her show earlier on Wednesday, the "Megyn Kelly Today" host delivered an impassioned monologue reacting to Lauer expounding on the recent flood of allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace.

"This one does hit close to home," Kelly said. "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, and I see the anguish on my colleagues' faces."

She continued:

"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," Kelly said. "We don't see the career opportunities women lose because of sexual harassment, or the intense stress it causes a woman dealing with it when she comes to work each day. I am thinking of those women this morning and hoping they are OK. The days to come will not be easy."

Despite some early stumbles, Kelly has emerged as one of the most vocal network television personalities speaking out about workplace harassment, often drawing on her own experiences of harassment at Fox News.

At IGNITION on Wednesday, Kelly recalled being her experiences with former Fox News chair Roger Ailes, offering her advice to women experiencing harassment in the workplace.

"I want to say to those women, I understand. It's not that I'm oblivious of how hard it is to report," Kelly said. "But I want to say: Find a way. Because the culture, I don't want to say has changed, but it is changing, meaningfully by the moment. Thanks to the women that are finding the courage."