What You Should Know About Amy Robach
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As a popular face of broadcast news, including roles co-hosting ABC's "Good Morning America" and "20/20" since 2012 (via IMDb), Amy Robach has been a well-respected public figure recognized for bringing compassion and empathy to her interviews. An October 2022 feature on Robach from her alma mater, the University of Georgia, compared her on-air presence to that of "a brick mason who has been at his craft for decades; a concert pianist who is flawless on the keyboard at Carnegie Hall; a pilot landing a jetliner for the 300th time at Heathrow" (via Bulldawg Illustrated).
So, it came as a shock to many in November 2022 when Robach suddenly became the news after her relationship with her "Good Morning America" co-host, T.J. Holmes, made headlines. Adding to the controversy is that both she and Holmes were still married to their respective spouses when the news broke (although Page Six alleges that Robach had been separated from her former actor husband Andrew Shue for several months by the time the story broke).
With Robach's personal life suddenly making headlines, we decided to dig deeper to learn more about the broadcast journalist, mom, breast cancer survivor, and onetime pageant queen. So, keep reading to learn what you should know about Amy Robach.
Amy Robach got hands-on as a journalist in college
Amy Robach grew up in Michigan before attending the University of Georgia, graduating in 1995 with a degree in broadcast journalism (per Newsweek). There, Robach took her role as a student journalist seriously, evident from her first-ever story for Georgia's campus news station: She covered a fellow student's drug-related death, showing empathy in how she approached the student's father. As Robach shared with She Knows, she had told him, "If we can prevent one person from doing drugs tonight, at least something will have come out of this unbelievable tragedy." Reflecting on that moment, she said, "I vowed, in that moment, that I was going to take this as a huge responsibility and an honor and a calling. That was the moment when I knew this is what I was going to do for the rest of my life."
Following her career success, Robach has supported her alma mater, once telling Georgia's alumni publication, "I felt that I walked away (from campus) after those four wonderful years with what I needed to go out in the real world and succeed." Over the years, Robach has further shown her support on many occasions, including taking her daughter to a game and celebrating homecoming weekend with her parents.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
She is a former beauty pageant queen
While studying at the University of Georgia, Amy Robach pursued another passion as she competed in local pageants. Robach competed in the 1995 Miss Georgia pageant representing Gwinnett County and, according to Newsweek, ended up as the fourth runner-up, taking home a scholarship worth $1,100.
The then-future broadcast journalist showed off her singing skills during the talent portion of the competition (via YouTube). As noted by Newsweek, a particularly memorable moment for Robach in the competition came when she was asked how Americans can use the "media as a tool to become better-informed citizens." Her response: Don't "believe everything you see and everything you hear."
In January 2018, Robach experienced a full circle moment when she interviewed fellow journalist Gretchen Carlson, Miss America 1989, on "Good Morning America" about the future of the Miss America pageant after the Miss America organization decided to do away with the controversial swimsuit competition (via KOKI-TV). Carlson had made the official announcement, adding, "We will no longer judge our candidates on their outward physical appearance." During the conversation, they both expressed their hope for the competition to better empower women (via the Chicago Tribune).
The broadcast journalist shares two daughters with ex-husband Tim McIntosh
Amy Robach married Tim McIntosh in 1996 and welcomed a daughter, Ava McIntosh, in 2002. Four years later, Robach gave birth to another daughter, Annalise McIntosh. Unfortunately, per Newsweek, the couple divorced in 2009. While little is known about their marriage, the TV journalist posts about her daughters often on social media.
In December 2021, she wished her first-born daughter a happy birthday on Instagram alongside some throwback photos. "To the first girl I fell madly in love with at first sight!" she captioned the Instagram pic. "Happy 19th birthday Ava Lou – I'm so proud to be your mama – and love celebrating the woman you are today and [every day]!!"
In May 2022, she celebrated her younger daughter's 16th birthday by sharing on the platform a collection of sweet photos of her daughter and her over the years. Alongside the pics, Robach wrote, "Happy birthday Annalise – my Annie – had to fight back tears as I looked at your birthday pics from over the past few years! You've grown into such a smart, fierce, loyal and beautiful woman ... I love you and am so proud to be your mom." That same month, Robach shared a photo for Mother's Day where she posed with her mother and daughters. "Best Mother's Day gift ever," she wrote on Instagram. "A huge hug and shoutout to my husband, amazing bonus sons and my Dad for making this mama feel loved."
Amy Robach and estranged husband Andrew Shue weathered storms during marriage
In April 2009, Amy Robach met actor Andrew Shue at a book party when mutual friends introduced them. According to People, they began dating that month. Years later, in November 2022, a Twitter user alleged that Robach "cheated on her first husband with Andrew Shue," a rumor which has never been confirmed.
In 2009, the couple announced their engagement not long after each of their respective divorces. In February 2010, the two married in a small, intimate affair with close family and friends at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers overlooking the Hudson River. "It was the most beautiful night in every way," the then-newlyweds told People. "Despite snow, high winds, flight and train delays, every guest made it to the night to share in our new beginning."
Over the years, the couple made many public appearances looking happy together, though, in 2015, Robach opened up about the tough time they experienced after her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. "We were learning how to live with each other and raise kids together," she told People that year. While she said "it was rough for several months," she added that they came out of the experience the "best they have ever been." Her husband added, "We knew that if we could just get back to what our connection was about and just be honest about the fears, then we could get through it."
Amy Robach is a breast cancer survivor
Amy Robach has been vocal about her experience with breast cancer. Her Stage 2, HER-positive breast cancer diagnosis immediately became public after undergoing a mammogram live on-air in October 2013. With the cancer having spread to her lymph nodes, she soon underwent a double mastectomy — which detected yet another tumor — as well as eight rounds of chemotherapy and breast reconstruction surgery.
Interestingly, as Robach shared with She Knows, she hadn't considered getting a mammogram before being given the opportunity on television, and hesitated to do it on air to avoid it looking like a ratings ploy. Talking with co-star Robin Roberts, herself a survivor of breast cancer, changed her mind. "Amy genuinely wanted to help educate viewers," Roberts shared with the outlet. "I told her if getting in the mammo-van led to one life being saved that's all that would matter. Little did we know of course that the life saved would be hers."
Robach realized this was also her motivation for telling the story of that University of Georgia student all those years ago. "When you share your story with vulnerability, you empower people to take charge of their health," she said. Robach further shared her experience in her 2015 memoir, "Better: How I Let Go of Control, Held On to Hope, and Found Joy in My Darkest Hour." Now happily in remission, she told Cure Today, "There is life during cancer treatments, and there is life after cancer treatments."
Amy Robach discovered a love for running after her cancer diagnosis
After experiencing breast cancer, Amy Robach discovered a love of running. Taking up running was the same reason she climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro: her changed outlook on life. "I was afraid to assume I had another year," she shared with She Knows in a detailed interview. "But then I started to say 'hey, but guess what? I do have right now.' So I started running marathons and climbing mountains and doing things that I didn't think were possible."
As she told Cure Today, Robach also worries about developing metastatic breast cancer. "That is on my mind every day, but I use it for good," she said. "I use it to remind myself that time is limited."
Robach discovered that running is therapeutic for her, and she's even inspired others she knows to run marathons, including the New York Marathon, an event in which she took part in early November 2022. "They've actually enjoyed it," she added. "I'm proud of the fact that not only have I learned how to live, but I've hopefully inspired the people who I love best to live in that same way — out loud, without fear, and knowing that you're stronger than you think." Robach's Instagram page is full of running pics, where she is usually joined by others, whether she's training or running a marathon, including the one she did in Chicago in October 2022.
She published a children's book with Andrew Shue
The journalist is also a children's book author. In October 2021, Amy Robach and Andrew Shue, who has three sons from his first marriage (via People), published a children's book called "Better Together!" about blending families, compromising, and "accepting and appreciating each others' differences," per the book's Penguin Random House description.
Of the project, they explained how they drew inspiration from their personal experience. "We felt that there was a story in our family's story that could resonate with blended families, but also could just resonate with people in general in the country who are struggling a little bit to find the love and the common ground that we all share," Shue told People. Added Robach, "We used to joke and say, 'One day we should write a children's book about how family isn't just about who you're related to by blood, but who you choose to love, who you choose to respect, and who you choose to find common ground with.'"
In another interview with Ashley Bellman (via Hello!), Robach shared more about the difficult process of blending families after having both been "single parents for a while" and "then suddenly ... having to live with someone with a different parenting style to you." She explained that they each learned to compromise over time.
Her affair with co-star T.J. Holmes first came to light in late November 2022
After her breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and resulting surgeries, Amy Robach experienced her next setback when her affair with "Good Morning America" co-star T.J. Holmes came to light in November 2022. The romance was first revealed in exclusive photos from the Daily Mail of the two getting cozy at a New York City bar and during a weekend getaway.
As insiders shared with the outlet, both the couples' inner circle and the public knew that the co-anchors enjoyed a close friendship since Holmes joined Robach for the third hour of "Good Morning America" in 2020 — they've even been pictured running and socializing together with their partners numerous times. While no one knows for sure when their friendship turned romantic, sources told the outlet that it probably happened in June 2022 or even earlier while they traveled to London together to cover Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, with ABC staff "buzzing about the intimacy between them" at the time. Hello!, though, reported in December that the couple allegedly began their romance in March while they trained together for the New York City Marathon.
Complicating matters is that each was married at the time — Robach to Andrew Shue and Holmes to attorney Marilee Fiebig — and both since 2010. Amid the controversy, Robach and Holmes deleted their Instagram accounts, with Robach later returning to the platform yet refraining from posting.
The journalist split from husband Andrew Shue in summer 2022
After the news broke of Amy Robach's affair with her "Good Morning America" co-star, T.J. Holmes, the media turned their attention to her marriage to Andrew Shue, the former "Melrose Place" star-turned-entrepreneur. On December 1, 2022, a Page Six exclusive announced that Robach and Shue's divorce was "almost finalized" and that Shue had "moved out earlier this summer," according to a friend of the former couple. "They've constantly had problems over the years and they finally broke up."
Another source said, "They're in a relationship, they're very happy. They are both broken up from their spouses and they're two consenting adults." This sentiment was echoed by another source who alleged to People that they did not begin a relationship until after they had separated from their spouses. The source also shared that Robach and Shue were waiting for their divorce to be finalized before sharing the news. "The whole point of why she waited to share the news that her marriage was over: she went to [divorce] mediation," the source said, adding that Robach was "preoccupied" with her cancer treatment.
The source added Robach and Shue began experiencing difficulties earlier in the summer. The source also commented on their earlier issues — likely referencing their different parenting styles, which Robach had opened up about previously (via Hello!). She also had shared that her breast cancer diagnosis had put a strain on them (per Us Weekly).
Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes departed ABC following news of their workplace romance
After Amy Robach's romance with her "Good Morning America" co-anchor made news in late November 2022, her and Holmes' future with ABC was unclear.
In early December 2022, TMZ revealed that the co-hosts had been temporarily suspended from their roles, with ABC News President Kim Godwin referring to the controversy as an "internal and external distraction" before adding that their relationship was "not a violation of company policy." She said, "I have really taken the last few days to think about and work through what I think is best for the ABC News organization." While ABC conducted an internal investigation to determine the next steps, TMZ said that the network replaced Robach and Holmes with Stephanie Ramos and Gio Benitez.
According to a late January 2023 update from TMZ, Robach and Holmes' lawyers called for a mediation session with the network after the couple was notified that ABC did not want them working together. TMZ's sources alleged that the couple was united when it came to the mediation and that it seemed as if ABC considered Holmes to be the "more problematic" of the two.
Two days later, on January 25, TMZ revealed that both Robach and Holmes had officially cut ties with ABC after engaging in what sources called an "extremely contentious" mediation session in which both were accused of different forms of misconduct in an apparent effort to justify the firing.