“In that world, affiliated with the show we were affiliated, that’s just a sexy freakin’ story…..And I just don’t think we thought about it in that way, that anybody would give a damn what we were doing.”
T.J. Holmes spoke those words during the first episode of the podcast he cohosts with his partner Amy Robach. In their inaugural episode of Amy & TJ, which debuted on Tuesday, the pair opened up and reflected on their tumultuous final months at ABC once their relationship was uncovered.
“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,” Holmes said.
Back in January, Robach and Holmes were let go from their hosting duties on ABC News’ GMA3: What You Need to Know after a failure to disclose their romantic affair. The Daily Mail broke the news (and published photos) of the duo’s secret romance in late November 2022, but the affair had started several months earlier when both TV newsers were still married. Robach and Holmes finally separated from their respective spouses this past August.
ABC News president Kim Godwin decided to remove Robach and Holmes from the midday edition of GMA back in December 2022, five days after The Daily Mail published its story.
During the podcast, the pair recollected the moment they were pulled from the air as a result of their relationship going public, with Robach saying, “We each got a phone call from our bosses saying that they had made the decision — and they made it again a point to say we hadn’t violated any company policy — but because we had become a distraction that they thought it would be best if they temporarily took us off the air to let things quiet down.”
She added, “And I remember I said … Now this is going to be a story if you take us off the air, please don’t do this.”
“That was the morning we knew we would not be going back to that network,” Holmes added. “We knew that phone call sealed it because you can’t come back from that.”
“I was sick to my stomach because we knew what was coming once that announcement was made,” Robach continued.
In a subsequent editorial call, Godwin told ABC News staff that while the hosts’ relationship did not necessarily violate company policy, the ordeal had become an “internal and external distraction.”
An ABC News spokesperson told TVNewser at the time, “After several productive conversations with Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes about different options, we all agreed it’s best for everyone that they move on from ABC News. We recognize their talent and commitment over the years and are thankful for their contributions.”
Robach and Holmes revealed during the podcast their thought process on letting ABC management know about their relationship. The pair settled on disclosing once their respective divorces were finalized, but with The Daily Mail breaking their story before they spoke with the network, their plan went awry.
The duo confronting the story that led them to start their own podcast is part and parcel of what they want Amy & TJ to become. When they announced the launch of their podcast, from iHeartMedia, back in early November, they described it as one with seemingly nothing off limits. The couple says they’ll explore meaningful conversations about current events, pop culture, and everything in between.
In addition to hosting and executive-producing their own podcast, Robach and Holmes will also collaborate on a full slate of upcoming programming for iHeartPodcasts.
Meanwhile, in a storyline that would be suited for one of ABC’s daytime soaps, the former spouses of Robach and Holmes are dating each other, having gotten closer during the traumatic period.