The couple is opening up after baring it all in a podcast episode where they shared their lovers' quarrel.
T.J. Holmes is opening up about why he was initially hesitant to release the emotional podcast episode where he and girlfriend/co-host Amy Robach dissected their latest argument that left many wondering if they were still a couple or if the relationship teetered on implosion.
In the latest episode of their Amy & T.J. podcast, the former GMA3 hosts explained the thought process that ultimately led them to releasing the podcast episode where Robach confronted Holmes about being "emotionally removed" from the relationship, which led to a tense few days. Robach was all in on sharing the episode because she felt it was necessary to be transparent with the public who has followed them from the very beginning of the relationship.
Holmes, however, felt very differently. In fact, after speaking with their producer, Amy Sugarman, on the phone, Holmes doubled down on not wanting to release the episode. Ultimately he came around to it, but now he's sharing why there was hesitation on his part.
"This is the truth of the matter -- I flat out said to both of you right there on the phone at 4:30 in the morning East Coast time -- that I don't want to put this out because this is going to, I fear be viewed, as a Black man beating up on a white woman," Holmes said. "Now, if anybody took their time and listened to that podcast, obviously, I was not yelling, screaming. I wasn't doing anything. Now, we are a couple who is having disagreements, so obviously neither one of us were having our best moments, but my immediate concern was that. And you and Sugarman both [said], 'Wait, what?!'"
Robach expressed "shock" after hearing Holmes' explanation.
"That would never have crossed my mind, race," she said. "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. And, honestly, it took me a second to get my head around it. And once you explained it, and once we've seen some of the reaction, a light bulb went off."
It's the Angry Black Man stereotype Holmes desperately wanted to avoid. After the episode dropped, Holmes said he was confident his demeanor and the way he spoke with Robach didn't feed into the racist trope, but he was still worried -- a fear rooted from years of experience -- about how others would perceive him. And his fear was ultimately proven right.
"I have known throughout my career in certain situations -- in boardrooms, in newsrooms -- that when you are going face to face with a colleague or a white woman and things get heated, I know that there is only so much bass I can put in my voice," Holmes explained. "I know there's only so much flailing of my hands I can do. I know there's only so much movement I can put in my body. I make a conscious decision 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 continued. "But I know as soon as I make any move, it is now going to be seen as a threat. That thing is there, and I didn't want to put myself in a position -- or us, because we are in this together -- in a position to where someone could take that and begin to ... nobody, in any article, has said 'Black and white.' But there are things we start to notice in coverage and in comments that absolutely brought to fruition exactly what my fear was."
Robach echoed Holmes' sentiment, adding that his fear was proven right by the headlines that came after the episode dropped. She pointed to the fact that just about every headline explained her side of the argument and how she was crying.
"You predicted it and that's exactly how it was covered," she added. "And that was eye-opening to me, and I hope it's eye-opening to a lot of people because, again, when we were recording this and going through this authentic moment ... it never crossed my mind that there would be any racial element."
Not long after the argument episode dropped, the couple went on social media and wanted to tell the world that things are "right" in their relationship and they've since gotten back on course.
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