‘Good Morning America’ Affair Brings Back 2000s Tabloid Drama

Marriages end. Affairs begin. Sometimes there’s some overlap — and sometimes, if you’re famous, paparazzi are there to capture the entire mess.

Or, they were. Today it often feels like celebrity-stalking photographers lack the power they once held over their prey. A-listers now go to greater lengths to protect their privacy, tabloids have less cultural influence thanks to social media, and we’ve all had to reckon with the pain that that sort of media coverage inflicted on stars over the years, like Britney Spears.

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Yet a blossoming scandal at the daytime news show Good Morning America, documented in a trove of sneaky pictures, is transporting the nation back to the mid-2000s. Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes, anchors on the daytime segment GMA3: What You Need to Know, have apparently been enjoying a months-long affair (a well-timed report now claims they both separated from their spouses in August). The Daily Mail ran photos of the workplace couple canoodling in a bar, holding hands in an Uber, arriving at a secluded cottage for a vacation weekend, and entering and leaving one another’s apartment buildings.

Frankly, no one was prepared for this kind of throwback, and even people who had never watched or heard of Holmes and Robach were invested. It’s a drama that bridges generations, and it isn’t playing out in DM screenshots. This is vintage stuff.

You might say it’s a story that has everything. The pair co-hosts a daily live TV show that’s watched by millions. They’ve always been known for their on-air “chemistry” — but reportedly first got intimate while covering Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee this summer. They ran a marathon together, used to go on double dates with their spouses, and simultaneously deleted their Instagram accounts when the affair headlines began.

Also, to the viewers’ surprise, they were still at their desk the day after, joking about looking forward to the weekend. I’ll bet!

Where does it go next? Presumably, the pics will factor into the divorces. ABC will have to decide whether to discipline the pair for an inappropriate workplace relationship — or they could ride it to higher ratings. And, going forward, New Yorkers will clock these two at any restaurant they happen to visit.

That, perhaps, is the most 2000s aspect of this business: Robach and Holmes are suddenly a whole lot more famous because they dated brazenly and got caught. If they thought they could blend in before, they sure as hell can’t now: it’s a tabloid sensation from here on out. Good luck steering clear of the paps.

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