Warning: This article contains mention of suicidal thoughts.
A year on from their shocking dating scandal, former Good Morning America anchors Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes have broken their silence on the entire thing.
For those who need a refresher, Amy and T.J. — who began working together in 2014, and started cohosting on GMA3 in 2020 — found themselves at the center of scrutiny last November after the Daily Mail released several PDA-heavy photos of them. As far as the public was aware, Amy and T.J. were both married to other people at the time — Marilee Fiebig and Andrew Shue, respectively, for over a decade.
The photos fueled rumors that Amy and T.J. were both cheating on their spouses, and amid the controversy, the pair were axed from cohosting GMA3.
Fast forward a year, and Amy and T.J. — who are in a romantic relationship — are finally breaking their silence on the scandal during a brand-new episode of their recently launched iHeartRadio podcast.
In the episode, titled "Amy & T.J", the couple open up in detail about the “year of hell” they’ve had since the scandal broke.
First and foremost, Amy and T.J. claimed that they were both already “in the middle of divorces” from their respective former spouses when the world found out that they were romantically involved.
“To be clear, we were outed as being in a relationship, but everyone else thought we were being outed as adulterers — being outed as cheating on our spouses — and it wasn’t the case,” T.J. claimed.
“The day those pictures were taken and the day that article was released, we both at that point were in divorce proceedings,” he alleged, with Amy adding, “Yes, we had attorneys, mediators. We were in the middle of divorces.”
Amy went on to say that “everyone” in her innermost circle was well aware that she was getting divorced, and that she’d taken her ring off months prior to the photos surfacing online. She also claimed that her now ex-husband, Andrew, had “moved out” of their house three months before she and T.J. were pictured together for the first time.
“It was one of those things where everyone in my tight circle knew I was getting divorced. I took my ring off early August. It was very clear to anyone who knew me that I was in the middle of a divorce. T.J. is a much more private person than me and just chose to keep that to himself,” she said.
“But it was hard, because anyone who was a viewer or anyone outside of a very small circle didn’t know that either one of us were getting divorced, so that was one of the challenges we had in the beginning. We were trying to clear everything up,” she said.
While T.J. also noted that he was living without his now ex-wife, Marilee, at the time, he did express a little regret at the fact that the public found out about his and Amy’s relationship before their respective divorces.
“We shouldn’t have allowed, and I can say that in hindsight, for folks to find out about our relationship before they found out about our divorces. If people would have heard earlier that ‘they’re in a relationship, now they’re dating,’ maybe an eyebrow would have been raised or something, but it wouldn’t have become what it became,” he said.
Both Amy and T.J. made it clear that they refrained from breaking the news publicly themselves because they were trying to protect their families. Amy is mom to daughters Ava, 21, and Annie, 17, while T.J. shares a 10-year-old daughter named Sabine with Marilee.
“My daughter, I mean she’s 10. I was trying to get her adjusted to the idea of her parents not being together. And I had been working on that for the past three, four months,” T.J. began.
“So, I didn’t want to spring on her that early, ‘Oh, by the way, that Amy Robach that you’ve known since you were 1, well I’m dating her now’ ... I hadn’t even told my mom about the divorce, so why the hell am I thinking about telling an executive at the network about it?” he continued, before adding, “In hindsight, sure, I mean, we screwed up.”
Amy added, “We thought we were protecting our children and our families. And we thought we had time and we thought we had a right to privacy, and maybe that was foolish and silly.”
Amy also revealed that she actually found out that her and T.J.’s relationship had been “outed” from her daughters and her parents, who immediately contacted her once they saw the Daily Mail photos online. Amy noted that she “still” apologizes to her children for this, explaining that they’re “all in therapy” to this day.
As for how the couple dealt with the public scrutiny in the immediate wake of the scandal, Amy revealed she had suicidal thoughts.
“There were days when I wanted to die. That was something I never experienced before in my life,” she shared.
“I just didn’t want to get up. I didn’t want to see what new headlines was going to be out there,” she continued, before adding, “To feel like, you know, who is still behind me? Who supports me? Will I work again? Will I ever be trusted again?”
T.J. went on to reveal that on the day that the scandal broke, he got home from work and “immediately started pounding vodka” and taking multiple “weed edibles.”
“That day was essentially me getting off work and pounding vodka. I didn’t stop for several hours and took who knows how many weed edibles,” he said.
As a result, Amy recalled finding T.J. “splayed out” and “incoherent” on his bed, which she described as “terrifying.” Before going to his place to check on him, Amy said she’d received a concerning text message from him that read, “You were the love of my life. I’m so sorry this has happened.”
She recalled, “I texted back and I said, ‘You’re scaring me. Please tell me you’re OK.’ No response. I call, he doesn’t answer. I FaceTime him, he doesn’t answer his FaceTime... He’s not answering anybody.”
“I was so afraid that he had done something... and my mom looked at me and she was like, ‘You have to go down there right now.’ And my dad said, ‘I’m coming with you,’” Amy continued. “I remember going down the hall, opening the door... and I saw you and you were just splayed out on your bed.”
“I said, ‘T.J.’ and you didn’t move. And I remember it was the most awful thing having to touch your body to see if you were warm. I was so afraid. You were just incoherent,” she added.
But in spite of how difficult things have been for Amy and T.J. over the past year, the pair maintained that they’re excited for their future together.
“I guess the best way to sum us up, Amy and T.J., is that we’re the folks who lost the jobs we love because we love each other,” T.J. said. “And that is the bottom line.”
Well, as if the past year wasn’t wild enough for Amy and T.J., their latest revelations come amid new reports that their exes, Andrew and Marilee, are dating.
According to Page Six, who purportedly heard from multiple sources, the pair have been dating for roughly six months. We’ll keep you posted if anything else unfolds!
Dial 988 in the US to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Find other international suicide helplines at Befrienders Worldwide (befrienders.org).