It’s been a while since Matt Lauer was ousted from NBC’s Today show, leaving his anchor bestie Katie Couric in silence — until now.

“The whole thing has been very painful for me,” Couric, told People in an interview. “The accounts I’ve read and heard have been disturbing, distressing and disorienting and it’s completely unacceptable that any woman at the ‘Today’ show experienced this kind of treatment.”

She also clarified that she had no idea any of the sexual encounters were taking place: “I had no idea this was going on during my tenure or after I left,” she told People in the interview. “I think I speak for many of my former colleagues when I say this was not the Matt we knew. Matt was a kind and generous colleague who treated me with respect.” She added: “It’s still very upsetting. I really admire the way Savannah [Guthrie] and Hoda [Kotb] and the entire ‘Today’ show staff have handled a very difficult situation.”

Matt was fired for inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace. In a memo to staffers, NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack said executives “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. 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.”