The ‘Good Morning America’ affair
It's Gossip Time!
Hello and welcome to Gossip Time, a weekly guide to the stars by Allie Jones. This week: the Daily Mail uncovers an affair, an actress debuts a new boyfriend, and Hilary Duff reveals conflicting feelings about her 2002 Christmas album.
The Daily Mail is officially the scariest tabloid in circulation. On Wednesday, the British rag dropped one of the most thorough investigations I have ever read in my life, focusing on the previously secret affair between the co-anchors of Good Morning America’s third hour. By now, you have probably learned their names: T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach. We’re a Today show household, so I was not previously familiar with these people, but now I know more about them and their recent whereabouts than I do most of my family members.
The Mail tracked Holmes, 45, and Robach, 49, for weeks, as they allegedly cheated on their respective spouses in various locales throughout Manhattan and upstate. A lone, dogged paparazzo (I’m guessing) caught them canoodling at O’Donoghue’s in Times Square, going in and out of each other’s apartments, holding hands in a cab, meeting up at an NYU Langone medical center (???) and goofing around outside a rented cabin upstate. (Holmes touched Robach’s butt.)
That all sounds fun, save for the NYU Langone linkup. But the previously under-the-radar couple do not seem to be aware of the camera in any of the photos, making the whole investigation sort of chilling. These people are not, like, really famous. They are just trying to have an affair with their coworker in peace.
The tricky thing, of course, is that both co-anchors are currently married to other people. Robach has been with the Melrose Place actor Andrew Shue since 2010, though Page Six reports they separated in August, and that their divorce is almost finalized. Holmes, meanwhile, is married to an attorney named Marilee Fiebig. According to Page Six, Holmes and Fiebig separated this year but were trying to “work things out” and were together on Holmes’s birthday in August. A source claims Fiebig was “blindsided” by the affair with Robach. Both Holmes and Robach were married before; these now-fractured unions are their second marriages.
According to People, pretty much everyone at work saw this coming. A source told the tabloid that Holmes and Robach’s affair was “the worst-kept secret at ABC News.”
“They had no shame going out together and have been publicly doing this for much longer than a month,” the source continued. “Staffers are very surprised it took this long to come out. Everyone was turning a blind eye because they didn’t want the controversy surrounding the show.”
Robach and Holmes do seem to have insane chemistry. Check out this video of them discussing training for a half-marathon together earlier this year:
In the wake of the scandal, both parties have deleted their Instagram accounts, but they showed up for work as normal yesterday, and it doesn’t seem like they’re going to be disciplined by the network. Good for them! Cheating on a second marriage doesn’t really count, in my opinion. Just keep in mind, if you choose to do something similar, that the Daily Mail can and will find out.
In slightly less thrilling relationship news, Minka Kelly has a new boyfriend. His name is Dan Reynolds, and he’s the lead singer of Imagine Dragons, lol. Kelly, 42, and Reynolds, 35, debuted their relationship with a series of pap walks around L.A., including one where they held hands:
Reynolds is fresh off a divorce from his wife of 11 years, Aja Volkman. The ex-couple split in September and share four children with exact names you’d expect: Coco Rae, Arrow Eve, Gia James, and Valentine.
Sadly, in the grand pantheon of Kelly’s boyfriends, Reynolds barely ranks. Kelly has previously dated John Mayer, Donald Faison, Chris Evans (three times — in 2007, 2012, and 2015), Derek Jeter, Wilmer Valderrama, Josh Radnor, Jesse Williams, and most recently, Trevor Noah. (Noah is now possibly dating Dua Lipa, who used to date Anwar Hadid.)
Amazingly, Kelly has not yet dated Pete Davidson, despite being exactly his type. I’m sure they’ll both get there eventually. For now, Davidson is “dating” Emily Ratajkowski. The two made their public debut at a Knicks game last weekend, sandwiched in between Ben Stiller and Jordin Sparks. According to the funniest Us Weekly article published this week, Davidson thinks he’s met his “intellectual match” in EmRata, and I have to agree. These two are operating on exactly the same level, and that’s got to be fun for them.
STUFF BY HILARY DUFF: This week, in an interview with InStyle to promote her role as the children’s clothing outlet Carter’s “Chief Mom Officer,” Hilary Duff discussed her 2002 Christmas album Santa Claus Lane. While I enjoy listening to this album every December, Duff has conflicting feelings about it. “I don’t ever listen to that album with my family, because I’m afraid they might actually love it!” she said, confusingly. Then she added, “Never say never... I love Christmas music!”
Okay same! My favorite track is probably the original “Same Old Christmas,” featuring Hilary’s sister Haylie Duff. The two are now allegedly estranged, but maybe this tuneless little ditty can bring them back together.
Finally, I’ll leave you with the first teaser for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming Netflix reality show (er, documentary):
According to the only news source we trust now, the Daily Mail, Harry and Meg released this 60-second photo reel this week to DELIBERATELY detract from the Prince and Princess of Wales’s very important trip to Boston. Idk, I’m bored.
Thanks so much for opening this email. And thank you especially to paid subscribers! Your contributions keep this operation running, and I love you. If you haven’t subscribed yet and would like to, you can do so in the box above. As always, feel free to share your thoughts and theories in the comments or by replying directly.
*squints* I thought Ben Stiller and Christine Something broke up?