The Weatherman's Wife! Get to Know Al Roker's Other Half Deborah Roberts
The two media personalities work at competing networks!
Al Roker went from the friend zone to quickly forecasting his relationship with now-wife Deborah Roberts. Following his first marriage, the beloved TODAY weatherman and co-anchor found a new love to weather life's storms and sunny days with. Get to know the other half of the power couple, who happens to be employed by a rival network!
Who is Al Roker's wife?
The TODAY co-host is married to fellow accomplished journalist Deborah Roberts. While her husband works for NBC, Roberts is an ABC News correspondent.
Despite their differences, the TV stars share "a deep and abiding respect and feeling for family." "We don't like the same foods, we don't really like a lot of the same music, we don't like a lot of the same theater events," Roberts shared during an interview with Good Morning America. "But we love each other very much and we have a deep and abiding respect and feeling for family. I think that's what grounds us."
Roker, who underwent surgery after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020, told PEOPLE that his wife has "been a real rock."
Related: TODAY's Al Roker, Craig Melvin and Sheinelle Jones Lead Honest Talk About Raising Black Children
How did Al Roker meet his wife Deborah Roberts?
The pair met in 1990 when Roberts was a correspondent for NBC’s TODAY, PEOPLE previously reported. “Al was so sweet,” she told the magazine. "He showed me pictures of his daughter and talked about his family." After Roberts was transferred to Miami, the duo kept in touch via email. By the time she returned to New York City in 1992, Roker had already split from his wife Alice Bell, and Roberts "rekindled her friendship with Roker."
“He was a nice guy but kind of annoying, overly chatty. I just didn’t think of him beyond a friend," Roberts confessed.
During a 2021 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Roker recalled being in the "friend zone" and how he got out of it. While Roberts was covering the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Roker kept an eye on her apartment.
"I had to snoop around, so I was in the kitchen, and I open up the fridge, and there's nothing," he told Clarkson. "There's nothing in the fridge, like some old cheese, a bottle of Grey Poupon mustard, that's about it."
Roker continued, "I open up the oven expecting to see a mess. It was a new oven I guess when she had moved in. The cardboard was still on the oven grates. I thought, 'This woman's never used this oven. What? This is insane.'"
The day before Roberts returned from her trip, Roker sweetly stocked her pantry and refrigerator. He also "left some flowers on the table and a note, 'Welcome home," Roker said, "And then I got my first date with her a week later."
The weatherman knew early on that he was going to marry Roberts. "He did say fairly early on before I was convinced I was that into him, 'We're going to get married," Roberts told PEOPLE in 2021. "I was like 'I don't think so. I'm not getting married right now.' It hit him, I think sooner than it did me. I was slow to come around."
Though as time went on, Roberts said, "He was such a sweet, loving, kind, giving, generous guy and I thought what am I waiting for?"
When did Al Roker and Deborah Roberts get engaged?
Roker proposed to Roberts on New Year's Day 1994 in the Grand Canyon. “I thought, what a great place,” he told PEOPLE. “On the rim of the Grand Canyon. And if she says, ‘No,’ one of us isn’t coming back.”
When did Al Roker and Deborah Roberts get married?
The TV couple tied the knot in 1995 at St. Thomas Church in New York City.
"I was sweating like crazy, part of it because I was 500 pounds," Roker said of his wedding on TODAY in 2020. "It was a great time. It was a good party."
Does Al Roker have children?
The TV personalities share two children: daughter Leila, born in 1998, and son Nick, whom they welcomed in 2002. Roker is also a father to daughter Courtney Roker from his first marriage.
Motherhood resulted in Roberts having to make a sacrifice. "When we had Leila, it became a difficult point in our marriage because I was already working mornings, and ABC came to her and said, 'We'd like you to do the newsperson's job on Good Morning America,'" Roker told TODAY in 2016. Roberts ultimately turned down the opportunity she had "dreamed about."
“Deborah decided to step back. Her career suffered some for it. You always feel guilty about that,” Roker said. The mom of two admitted, "That deep down in my heart of hearts I have felt at times that I have sacrificed more, but I think also he's also listened to me, too, and tried to feel a little bit of my pain."
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What is the secret to Al Roker and his wife Deborah Roberts' successful marriage?
The couple celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 2020. When asked the secret to 25 years, Roker told his TODAY co-hosts, "'Yes, dear' and never going to bed angry."
Meanwhile for Roberts, "so much of marriage, so much of love and relationships is about just showing up." The mom of two stressed it is a daily decision to keep trying to be there, to be devoted to each other and to try to learn.
"I try to learn from Al every day. I'm willing to say sorry," she told PEOPLE in 2021. "I think we're learning to not only talk to each other, but to just keep giving each other the benefit of the doubt, and I think that's huge."
Roberts added, "I love this man. I love us. I love us and I'm determined to cheer us and to be there for us and to make us work and to make us a priority."
Who was Al Roker's first wife?
Prior to Roberts, Roker was married to producer Alice Bell, with whom he shares daughter, Courtney. The former couple got married in 1984 and welcomed their one and only child together in 1987. By September of 1992, the New York Times reported that the pair had separated.
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