ABC’s Good Morning America heads removed hosts Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes from the air less than a week after news of their affair spread over the internet.
ABC News President, Kim Godwin, told TMZ that the executives decided out of fear that Robach and Holmes’ relationship would become an “internal and external distraction.”
Monday morning, an editorial meeting was held to announce the decision and the reasoning, adding that the relationship didn’t violate company policies.
“I have really taken the last few days to think about and work through what I think is best for the ABC News organization,” Godwin said at the meeting. “This is something I’m not going to talk. We’re not going to talk about it on this call until there is more to be said. I’m asking that we stop the whispering in the hallways.”
She continued, “You know, we can’t operate with gossip and speculation and rumors. We need to stay focused on the work. If you think there is something that management needs to know, you can always call HR or, as we’ve said, talk to a manager that you trust. If you think there is something that we need to know.”
Initially, it was reported that ABC wasn’t planning on disciplining the two, but since the news has been all that people are talking about, executives saw it was best to remove them from the show indefinitely.
Despite the break from the air, an anonymous source told TMZ that the couple didn’t plan on halting their relationship despite it impacting their career.
Monday morning, Stephanie Ramos and Gio Benitez replaced the two, brushing off the affair by stating that Holmes and Robach had the day off.
As Sis2Sis reported, Holmes and Robach were spotted on a romantic getaway in New York City, from flirting in an NYC bar to holding hands in an Uber. Some sources stated that the hosts got together after they both things off with their spouses in August.
However, according to Page Six sources, Holmes and his estranged wife, Marilee Fiebig, were still together in August. Furthermore, Holmes cheated on Fiebig prior to his relationship with Robach with a former ABC producer named Natasha Singh.
A source told the outlet that Fiebig was “blindsided” by his affair with Robach because she thought they were just friends. She grew suspicious of their relationship when they would have random work meetings at bars during the summer, growing closer to each other.
Her suspicions were correct after she found a birthday card Robach gave to him that seemed too personal, telling Feibig that she couldn’t trust him, especially after the whole ordeal with Singh.
Robach and her husband, actor Andrew Shue, were going through a divorce before the news broke. The divorce will finalize in two weeks.
