Amy Robach | |
|---|---|
 Robach in 2008 | |
| Born | Amy Joanne Robach (1973-02-06)February 6, 1973 (age 52) St. Joseph, Michigan, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Georgia |
| Occupation(s) | Anchor, correspondent |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Spouses | |
| Partner | T.J. Holmes (since 2022) |
| Children | 2 |
Amy Joanne Robach (born February 6, 1973)[1] is an American television reporter formerly forABC News. She is known as co-anchor of20/20 and as the breaking news anchor/fill-in anchor forGood Morning America. Robach first entered national television by working forNBC News from August 2003 to May 2012.[2] She served as a national correspondent for NBC News from 2003 to 2007 and became co-host of the Saturday edition of NBC'sToday as well as anchor onMSNBC from 2007 to 2012.
From May 2012 to January 2023, Robach worked for ABC News. She was a contributor forGood Morning America from May 2012 until March 2020, when she became the host ofPandemic: What You Need to Know, a show created in response to theCOVID-19 Pandemic. The show would later becomeGMA3: What You Need to Know, which she co-hosted from September 2020 to December 2022. Robach also served as co-anchor of20/20 alongsideDavid Muir from May 2018 until January 2023. She was fired from ABC after it was revealed that she had a romantic relationship with herGood Morning America co-hostT.J. Holmes.[3]
Born inSt. Joseph, Michigan, Robach grew up inEast Lansing, Michigan. Her family moved to St. Louis, and then to Georgia. There she attended high school and college. Robach graduated fromBrookwood High School inSnellville, Georgia, and from theUniversity of Georgia with high honors in broadcast journalism.[4] She was fourth runner-up in the 1995Miss Georgia pageant.[5]
Robach started her career atWCBD-TV in 1995.[6] She moved in 1999 and started working atWTTG in Washington, D.C.
She joinedMSNBC in 2003, and worked there for four years. She anchored two hours in the morning, and filled in onWeekend Today,Countdown with Keith Olbermann andMorning Joe. In July 2007 she was named co-anchor ofWeekend Today.
On May 19, 2012,[7] she announced she would be joiningABC News.[8][7]
Robach initially appeared on ABC'sGood Morning America as a correspondent.[9] She became the show's news anchor on March 31, 2014. In 2018, Robach became the new co-anchor of20/20.[10]
In March 2020, Robach began hostingPandemic: What You Need to Know on ABC, a daytime program initially focused on theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States, and airing in place ofStrahan, Sara & Keke.[11] The program later replacedStrahan, Sara & Keke indefinitely asGMA3: What You Need to Know, with Robach continuing as host.[12]
On November 2, 2019,Project Veritas released a late August 2019 "hot mic" incident in which Robach discusses ABC shutting down her story in 2015 onJeffrey Epstein, a billionaire who was a convicted sex offender and accused sex trafficker.
Robach's comments were made two days after an NPR story disclosed the existence of an on-camera interview withVirginia Roberts Giuffre and ABC's failure to broadcast it. Giuffre says she was sexually trafficked by Epstein to powerful men, includingPrince Andrew, Duke of York — a claim the Duke strenuously denied.
In a "hot mic" video, Robach was recorded on set for ABC'sGood Morning America voicing the following statements:
"I've had the story for three years," Robach says in the video. "We would not put it on the air. Um, first of all, I was told, 'Who was Jeffrey Epstein? No one knows who that is. This is a stupid story.' Then the palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways." Robach said that Giuffre alluded to others in the interview, including former PresidentBill Clinton, Harvard University law professor emeritusAlan Dershowitz, and Epstein's former girlfriend,Ghislaine Maxwell.
Giuffre has made similar accusations against all of them also in court documents. (All deny any wrongdoing or involvement in Epstein's sex trafficking.) Giuffre has said in court papers that she saw Clinton in Epstein's presence but did not witness Clinton participate in any sexual activity.[13]
"I tried for three years to get it out to no avail, and now these new revelations and — I freaking had all of it," Robach says on the tape. "I'm so pissed right now. Like, every day I get more and more pissed, 'cause I'm just like, 'Oh my God! It was — what we had, was unreal.' "[13]
Robach further said: “One of the reasons an interview with Roberts was not broadcast was because, we were so afraid we wouldn’t be able to interviewKate andWill, so I think that had also quashed the story.”[14]
Robach responded to the Project Veritas leaked video, stating: "As a journalist, as the Epstein story continued to unfold last summer, I was caught in a private moment of frustration. I was upset that an important interview I had conducted with Virginia Roberts didn’t air because we could not obtain sufficient corroborating evidence to meet ABC’s editorial standards about her allegations. My comments about Prince Andrew and her allegation that she had seen Bill Clinton on Epstein's private island were about what Virginia Roberts said in that interview in 2015. I was referencing her allegations—not what ABC News had verified through our reporting. The interview itself, while I was disappointed it didn't air, didn't meet our standards. In the years since, no one ever told me or the team to stop reporting on Jeffrey Epstein, and we have continued to aggressively pursue this important story."[15]
ABC News asserted: "At the time, not all of our reporting met our standards to air, but we have never stopped investigating the story. Ever since, we’ve had a team on this investigation and substantial resources dedicated to it. That work has led to a two-hour documentary and 6-part podcast that will air in the new year."[15]
On December 5, 2022, Robach and herGMA3 co-hostT. J. Holmes were taken off the air following the public disclosure of a romantic relationship between the two.[16]
On January 27, 2023, both Robach and Holmes were fired from ABC News as a result of their relationship.[17][18]
On December 5, 2023, they launched apodcast,Amy & T.J., oniHeartRadio.[19]
Robach is a cousin of formerNashville Star contestant Matt Lindahl. Her aunt and uncle were performing-arts teachers at her high school.[4][20][21]
She was married toTim McIntosh from 1996 until filing for an uncontested divorce in 2008. They have two daughters, born in 2002 and 2006.[22]
Robach became engaged to formerMelrose Place starAndrew Shue in September 2009.[23] They were married on her 37th birthday, February 6, 2010, at The Lighthouse atChelsea Piers, adjacent to the Hudson River.[24] It was reported they separated in August 2022,[25] after it was discovered Robach was having a relationship with herGMA3 co-anchorT. J. Holmes.[26] The divorce was reportedly finalized in March 2023.[27]
On November 11, 2013, Robach revealed onGood Morning America that she had been diagnosed withbreast cancer after receiving amammogram on live television on October 1, 2013, and after undergoing follow-up tests. She took time off from broadcasting to undergo a bilateralmastectomy.[28] On November 22, 2013, Robach revealed that during the surgery, doctors found a second malignant tumor in her other breast and that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes (classified as Stage IIB).[29] She then underwent eight rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and reconstructive surgery. She was cancer-free as of March 2022.[30]
On her podcast announcing that she and Holmes were having a "dry January" to start 2024, she said that she was having "over 30 drinks a week" before abstaining.
"I didn't have a job to go to. I was staying away from a lot of friends and family. We were laying low. So what did I do? I drank a lot, a lot more than I ever have. I don't think I've ever gone a full year where I drank every single day, and that was 2023 for me. It wasn't that I was getting wasted or drunk or any of that; it was just keeping a buzz going all day or at least keeping a relaxed state of mind in a heightened, anxious year," she said.[31]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
