Robin Roberts has opened up about her fans’ reactions after she came out as gay last December.
In a new interview with Good Housekeeping, Roberts, 52, said overall, fans have been very supportive. The Good Morning America anchor came out in a low-key way when she posted a photo from a family wedding and thanked her girlfriend of 10 years, massage therapist Amber Laign, for her support through the years.
“I was so moved that people got it and said, ‘You’re happy,’” Roberts said.
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However, some wondered why she hadn’t come out sooner.
“Others…were asking, ‘Why didn’t you say something about her before? Why are you only recognizing her now?’ News flash: Some people like their anonymity,” Roberts said. “This is what’s right for me. Love is love, and I’m grateful to have that. Sometimes there’s a stigma attached to how people view you if you’re living a certain way.
“But I don’t care; you gotta live your life. You gotta find what happiness is and what it means for you, and you can’t get caught up in what someone is saying about you on Twitter. You don’t go through a year like I did to not be happy and not make your own choices.”
In 2012, Roberts was diagnosed with MDS, a rare and potentially fatal group of diseases that affects the blood and bone marrow. She endured months of grueling treatment, which included chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and a long recovery at home.
Roberts returned to Good Morning America last February, and she told Parade that her harrowing experience with MDS gave her strength she didn’t know she had.
“I’m stronger than I thought I was,” she told Parade. “My favorite phrase has been ‘This too shall pass.’ I now understand it really well.”
She added the experience helped her appreciate the present.
“I don’t want to plan,” she said. “In a year’s time I want to still be able to say to you, I am in the moment.”