Amy Robach said there were times she “wanted to die” after her romance with T. J. Holmes became public.Photo:River Callaway/Variety via Getty

River Callaway/Variety via Getty
Amy Robachsays the past year has been the hardest of her life.
In the first episode of iHeartRadio’sAmy and T.J. Podcaston Tuesday, Robach compared the tumultuous periods, telling Holmes, 46, that whereas during her cancer treatments she was “fighting to live,” this year she “wanted to die.”
“I used to always say that 2013 was the worst year of my life, the hardest year of my life,” said Robach.
Reflecting on that time now, Robach said she remembers feeling a “collective hug from people who are lifting you up,” a far cry from the support she experienced this year.
“It’s interesting, you go through cancer [and] yes, you’re afraid that you’re going to die but you’re fighting to live. And you’ve got all these people around you supporting you and cheering you on and saying, ‘You’ve got this,'” Robach recalled.
“But this year, I wanted to die,” she said. “There were days where I wanted to die.”
Tearing up, the formerGMA3co-anchor admitted that this feeling was “something I had never experienced before in my life.”
“I just didn’t want to get up. I didn’t want to see what new headline was going to be out there,” she said.
For Robach, this year was also a “brutal reminder” of the careers she and Holmes lost when their relationship became public last November. (ABC News President Kim Godwinput the pair on hiatuson Dec. 5, 2022, shortly after news of their workplace romance broke.)
“I think it’s another reminder we did this for a living. We interviewed people who were at their worst moments or had had the most unimaginable things happen to them,” she said, adding that “you can’t imagine what it feels like until the tables are turned — and we experienced it.”
‘Amy and T.J. Podcas’ hosts T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach in December 2023.Ben Trivett/Shutterstock

Ben Trivett/Shutterstock
Robach said she hopes that her and Holmes’ “year of hell” will make them “more compassionate and empathetic for anyone who’s been in whatever situation you find yourself in, whether you’re the cause of it or it happens to you.”
“Whatever it is, we’re all human beings here,” she added.
She also said that the “eye-opening experience” left her with a series of questions: “Who is still behind me who supports me? Will I work again? Will I be ever trusted again? Will people believe what really happened versus what people have written happened?”
“And those were all things that we had to go through and deal with,” she said, adding, “I will say that I just felt extremely lucky that we had each other.”
Robach and Holmes firstannouncedAmy and T.J. Podcastin November, about a year aftertheir romance first went publicwhen photos were published showing them cozying up together. At the time, the couple had not yet announced their separations from their spouses, Robach from actorAndrew Shueand Holmes from attorneyMarilee Fiebig.
Also in the debut episode, Holmes denied she and Holmes ever had an affair, explaining that they “were in the middle of divorces" at the time.
Added Holmes, “To be clear, we were outed as being in a relationship, but everyone else thought we were being outed as adulterers — being outed as cheating on our spouses — and it wasn’t the case because the odd thing is, the day those pictures were taken and the day that article was released, we both at that point were in divorce proceedings.”
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iHeartRadio’sAmy and T.J.is available wherever podcasts are streamed.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go tosuicidepreventionlifeline.org.
source: people.com