Amy Robach was surprised to learn that boyfriend T.J. Holmes is Black. Robach made the revelation in Thursday’s episode of their new podcast.
The couple had a verbal disagreement during Tuesday’s episode. Robach didn’t realize they were going to be recording that day. She said Holmes “blindsided” her by showing up at her home with microphones.
They discussed their disagreements that escalated after they had too much to drink.
Holmes said he was hesitant to release Tuesday’s episode. He feared that he would be “viewed as a Black man beating up on a white woman.”
“I was shocked,” said Robach, who is racially color blind. “That would never have crossed my mind. Race — the fact that you’re Black and I’m white would never have crossed my mind.”
“And that’s kind of to your point, you have to think about things that I don’t think about,” she continued. “And honestly, it took me a second to actually get my head around it. And once you explained it, and then once we’ve seen some of the reaction, a light bulb went off for me in a way.”
Holmes said he has practiced minimizing his Blackness when around white female colleagues in boardrooms and in newsrooms.
“I know that there’s only so much base I can put in my voice,” he said during the podcast.
“I have made conscious decisions not to even stand up when I am being confronted or taken on by a white woman who might be screaming at the top of her lungs and disrespectful to me,” he added. “But I know as soon as I make any move, it is going to be now seen as a threat.”
Robach said she hoped their podcast episode was “eye-opening.” She said some listeners may not be aware that total race blindness exists.
“[W]hen we were recording this and going through this authentic moment… it never crossed my mind that there would be any racial element to this,” she said.
