Robin Roberts has reflected on coming out publicly in late 2013, admitting that she had been “afraid” to do so in part because of her Christian faith. The longtime Good Morning America co-anchor, 63, who married her partner Amber Laign, 48, last September , recently opened up about her decision to tell audiences she was gay. On a new episode of bestselling author Jamie Kern Lima’s The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast, Roberts explained that she had been fearful of the ramifications coming out would have on the network.
“It’s not the ‘Robin Roberts Show,’ it’s Good Morning America ,” she said. “And there are so many people whose livelihoods depend on the success of our show. And so, if I do something that hurts the show, that hurts them.
” She added that she was worried people would have a hard time accepting her intersecting identities as both “gay and a Christian.” “I would walk down the street with Amber, and if somebody saw us, I would introduce her. I wasn’t trying to hide but yet, I wasn’t ready to, to fully.
.. And part of it is, and I’ve never said this before, part of it is because of my Christianity,” Roberts said.
“I was afraid that people, they think you can’t be gay and a Christian. And I am. I am and I was so fearful that I would be shunned,” she continued.
Roberts shared that shortly after announcing her relationship with Amber, she received a “beautiful letter from the National Office at the Presbyterian Church” that was .