When theDaily Mailpublished 64 high-resolution photos ofGood Morning America anchors Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes, who are both married to other people, canoodling all over New York State, could they have known they were sparking an internet sensation so viral it would eclipsenot one buttwo major royal family events in the same week?
The problem is that even with all this evidence—the photos, statements from anonymous insiders, Instagram activity, and quickly unearthed clips of the two coworkers’ undeniable chemistry—it’s still hard to get a clear picture of the timeline. When did the alleged affair start? Did someone hire a private investigator? When did the respective marriages end?
So I have gathered everything I could find and present it to you here.
2020
In 2020, T.J. Holmes joined Amy Robach as cohost ofGMA3the newly created third hour ofGood Morning Americawhich airs daily. Holmes, 45, is married to Marilee Fiebig, a high-powered immigration lawyer. Robach, 49, is married to Andrew Shue, an actor best known forMelrose Place.
Clearly, the chemistry between Holmes and Robach was already off the charts. One prescient Twitter user, with the username Miss Brown, wrote in October 2020, “TJ Holmes and Amy Robach must be bumping pelvises.”
In the past few days, Holmes’s Instagram tribute to his wife, first posted in March 2020, has also gone viral. In the caption (viaCosmopolitan), Holmes praises his wife for staying with him “despite his best efforts,” adding helpfully that he had given her plenty of reasons to “walk her fine ass out the doooooooor.” But she stayed, thanks to her—and I’m quoting here—“built-in black woman superpower.”
2021
The onscreen chemistry between Robach and Holmes continues to grow, even allegedly sparking internal rumors that something more than friendship could be going on between them. “There were rumors they were having an affair about a year ago,” an unnamed source toldPeople the day after theDaily Mail photos were published. “A lot of people believed there might have been some truth to it, because you can see there’s a mutual affection there. But everyone ultimately chalked it up to friendship because they always said they were both happily married.”
In April 2021, Robach and Holmes became running partners, according toHello! magazinewhich she posted about on Instagram. This will become important momentarily.
T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach in March 2022
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
2022
This is where the timeline gets confusing, as three different sources have given three different outlets three different start dates for the romance. And while the timing of the split between Robach and Shue seems relatively consistent, there has been conflicting reporting on when Holmes and Fiebig officially separated.
TheDaily Mail posted its cache of photos on November 30, which show, in extremely high quality, the pair cozying up at an Irish pub near Times Square; entering the same Uber from different directions and then holding hands; and Holmes smacking Robach’s rear as she unloads the truck on their weekend getaway upstate. They are the kind of photos that seem like they could come only from a private investigator (who else is going to tail two news anchors upstate and hide in the bushes to snap photos of their car?), but who would have hired a PI? A spouse who then sold the images? A reporter for theDaily Mail?
The anonymous source quoted byPage Six says that Robach and Holmes began their rumored affair in March 2022, when they began training for the New York City Half Marathon together. (By the way, Robach ran theNew York City marathon with her presumably soon-to-be-ex-husband, Shue.) The Daily Mail‘s sources, however, say that the two got together in June, when they were in London covering the queen’s Platinum Jubilee together. One ofPeople‘s sources has reported that Holmes and Robach didn’t begin dating until August, after they had both separated from their spouses, but others told the mag that their supposed affair was basically an open secret at ABC.
Multiple outlets have reported that both marriages ended in August; Robach was spotted sans wedding ringin October. A source toldPage Six“Amy and Andrew are divorcing; it’s almost finalized. He moved out earlier this summer.” Robach and Shue also listed their New York City home back in September. Once theDaily Mail‘s story broke, Shue scrubbed his personal Instagram of all photos with Robach.
But whilePeople reported that Holmes and Fiebig also separated in August,Page Six says that Fiebig was “blindsided” by the alleged affair. “She’s devastated. She had no idea,” the source claimed. “They haven’t been together in [a while]but they were trying to work it out.”
Present
Professionals that they are, Holmes and Robach both returned to hostGood Morning America the day after the news broke and did their best to act as if nothing at all had happened. As far as damage control goes, they have both deleted their Instagrams and, perTMZwill not face any disciplinary action by ABC.
After all of this, I still have questions. If the rumored relationship is and always has been totally aboveboard as Robach’s and Holmes’s camps have claimed, then why would anyone bother to take kiss-and-tell shots from as late as November? But if they were trying to keep it under wraps, why were they snuggling at a Times Square bar just blocks from their place of work? But then again, if the marriages were both over by August, why not announce them then?
This story will be updated.