Brian Williams: Girls star daughter Allison Williams insists suspended NBC anchor is 'an honest man'

Daughter's support comes two weeks after Williams apologised for telling exaggerated story about coming under fire in Iraq

Brian Williams with actress daughter Allison in New York, 2015 (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Brian Williams hasn't had an easy time of it recently.

After being caught out embellishing a story about coming under fire in a helicopter in Iraq, the NBC news anchor was forced to take time himself off the air after fears the viewers' trust in him had been lost.

Now more statements made by the suspended anchor are being questioned, including anecdotes about watching the fall of the Berlin Wall and being embedded with the Navy SEALs team that killed Osama Bin Laden.

On Wednesday night, his daughter Allison Williams, who plays Marnie in HBO drama Girls, leapt to his defense insisting that people can trust him.

"He's a really good man," she told talk-show host Seth Meyers. "He's an honest man. He's a truthful man. He has so much integrity. He cares so much about journalism. And yes, he's a really good dad, but I know you can trust him because, as any good daughter does, I have tested him on that."

Williams told Meyers that the family had suffered during the fall-out.

"This has been a really hard time. We have also been very, very lucky, counting our blessings. We have our health, we have each other," she said.

"My dad has always been there for us 100 per cent of the time, even sometimes before we knew we needed him," Williams said. "And so this, to be here for him, is the least we can do."

She told the audience a story about him being a supportive father - and that she was looking forward to him returning to television.

"There was a father-daughter dance at the end of that year," she said. "Before he left, he was assuming he'd be back in time for the dance. And then, as the date was coming, it didn't seem like he was going to make it."

"But he had promised," she continued, "and so a couple days before I was so upset. And I got a surprise call from Iraq from my dad and he was asking if I had a date to the dance."

"So that's the kind of man he is, and I can't wait until he's back on TV. And I know that many of you guys feel that way."