Actress Charlotte Kirk’s affair with NBCUniversal honcho triggers outside probe
Now-former executive Ron Meyer left the company earlier this month
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NBCUniversal has launched an investigation Charlotte Kirk’s relationship with the now-former executive Ron Meyer, who admitted to having an extramarital affair with the actress.
The high-powered Meyer, a longtime NBC executive, left the company earlier this month after admitting he paid off someone who tried to extort him over an affair with a woman who was later reported to be the 28-year-old Kirk, who has appeared in films including “Ocean’s 8,” “How To Be Single,” "The Reckoning” and “Vice.”
LONGTIME NBCUNIVERSAL EXECUTIVE ON MEYER EXITS COMPANY AFTER EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NBCUniversal has launched an investigation actress Charlotte Kirk’s relationship with now-former executive Ron Meyer. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for FLAUNT Magazine)
Attorney Raymond Markovich, who represents Kirk, declined comment. But Kirk’s manager Shannon Pierce told Fox News she doesn't think the story merits the ink it has received.
“Ron Meyer is a former Marine and a mogul. He deserves better than to have his business blasted all over the media," Pierce said. "There are bigger issues at hand, let’s focus on justice for Jacob Blake and Breonna Taylor instead."
Meanwhile, an NBCUniversal spokesperson confirmed that an outside investigator has been hired.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TheWrap’s Tim Baysinger reported that “Meyer had reached a financial settlement with Kirk for an undisclosed an amount,” but an insider told Baysinger that a third party was “trying to extort Meyer and force him to disclose the settlement to NBCUniversal.”
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The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported that NBC Universal has launched a probe, wrote that the “effort to determine if any company money or resources were used in conjunction with the affair or its cover-up" and the goal is to “determine if the media giant was unwittingly a party to any impropriety.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Charlotte Kirk has appeared in films including “Ocean’s 8,” “How To Be Single,” The Reckoning” and “Vice.” (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage)
CHARLOTTE KIRK ‘DEEPLY SADDENED’ BY WARNER BROS. BOSS STEPPING DOWN
Kirk has been romantically involved with other powerful men, too.
Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara stepped down last year after it was revealed through a series of text messages that he allegedly promised Kirk acting roles and auditions in exchange for a sexual relationship.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Hollywood Reporter indicated on Wednesday that Kirk has also been linked to famed producer Steve Tisch, among other Hollywood heavyweights.
The outside probe by NBCUniversal is a sign that the company is attempting to clean up its culture after famously refusing to allow an outside counsel to investigate former “Today” anchor Matt Lauer’s alleged sexual misconduct. Then-NBC News chairman Andy Lack insisted that the investigation remains in-house, and his now-former colleagues concluded that NBC was completely oblivious to any wrongdoing.
Charlotte Kirk' relationship with an NBC executive forced the company to launch an outside probe.(Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Lack left the company earlier this year during an organizational shakeup.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meyer, who like Lack is now a now-former NBC executive, explained why he was leaving the network in a statement obtained by Fox News when he announced his departure from NBCUniversal on Aug. 18.
“I recently disclosed to my family and the company that I made a settlement, under threat, with a woman outside the company who had made false accusations against me, Meyer said. "Admittedly, this is a woman I had a very brief and consensual affair with many years ago."
Longtime NBCUniversal executive Ron Meyer left the company after disclosing he paid of a woman who tried to extort him after they were involved in an affair.
He made the disclosure because other people learned about the settlement and attempted to extort him under threats of implicating NBCUniversal in the affair and to publish other false allegations, Meyers said.
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Meyer said he regretted hurting people that are important to him.
“I am sorry for all the people in my life I may have let down, especially and most importantly, my family,” Meyer said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News’ Mariah Haas and Julius Young contributed to this report.