‘GMA’ Host Robin Roberts Reveals Why She Was Hesitated To Come Out As Gay: “I Was So Fearful I Would Be Shamed”

Good Morning America host Robin Roberts opened up about her experience coming out as gay while being in the public eye.

While speaking to entrepreneur Jamie Kern Lima on her podcast, Roberts explained that she was hesitant to come out because she did not want to “hurt” GMA , which she had been on since 2005.

“It’s not the Robin Roberts Show , it’s Good Morning America ,” she told Lima. “And there are so many people whose livelihoods depend on the success of our show. And so, if I do something that hurts the show, that hurts them…I thought about that. I didn’t want to do anything to hurt those people who I’ve been working with and absolutely adore.”

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Roberts later came out in 2013 in a Facebook post in which she gave a shoutout to her “longtime girlfriend” Amber Laign, who she later married in 2023. The couple had already been together since 2005.

“I would walk down the street with Amber, and if somebody saw us, I would introduce her. I wasn’t trying to hide but yet, I wasn’t ready to, to fully [come out],” she said.

Roberts added that she also feared that she would be rejected because of her religion.

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“I’ve never said this before, part of it is because of my Christianity,” she confessed to Lima during the emotional interview.

“I was afraid that people, they think you can’t be gay and a Christian. And I am. I am and I was so fearful that I would be shunned,” she said. “I received a letter, a beautiful letter from the National Office at the Presbyterian Church after I announced about Amber, fully supportive, and then I think about all those years I wasted, worried, needless worry.”

Roberts also revealed to Lima that she once tried to break up with Laign because she was used to “dysfunctional relationships,” but Laign promptly shut it down.

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“I was stunned,” Roberts said. “I thought she would be like, ‘You must stay with me’, and she did just the opposite with such confidence [and said], ‘I know what you had and I know what you have now and if that’s what you want…’ and I didn’t go through with it.”

It’s now been almost two decades since Roberts and Laign met on a blind date set up by their friends.

Throughout their relationship , Roberts and Laign have survived two bouts of breast cancer, as well as the rare blood disorder that Roberts received a lifesaving bone marrow transplant for in 2012.

Regarding her journey to coming out, Roberts maintained that she felt it happened “right on time.”

“This was the time in my life that was right. It felt good,” she told Lima. “And I can’t even imagine now people not knowing everything about me. And you know what’s so freeing about it also? It’s like, ‘Bring it on. You know everything about me. And I have nothing to hide.’ And to still be embraced, I am blessed and highly favored. I’m so grateful.”

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