Robin Roberts, âSweet Amberâ Laign get âGMAâ bachelorette party ahead of wedding
Ahead of their impending wedding, Alabama native and “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts has opened up about her “18-year love story” with Amber Laign.
Roberts was born in Tuskegee in 1960.
She became a “GMA” co-anchor in 2005, after more than a decade at ESPN. Though she grew up in coastal Mississippi, her connection to her birthplace remained significant in her work.
The daughter of Tuskegee Airman Lawrence Edward Roberts Sr., she produced and narrated a 2021 documentary, “Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage.”
Her relationship with Laign has hardly been a secret.
According to goodhousekeeping.com, Roberts publicly came out as a lesbian in 2013 and began speaking about her girlfriend then. According to usmagazine.com, Roberts announced plans to marry in January.
Good Housekeeping has described Laign as a licensed massage therapist and the founder of a CBD and essential oils brand, Plant Juice Oils.
They’ve been together through serious health issues: Roberts’ treatment for myelodysplastic syndrome required a bone marrow transplant in 2012, and both women have been treated for breast cancer, Laign in 2022.
“Good Morning America” celebrated the impending nuptials Wednesday with a special segment titled “Robin & Amber’s Bachelorette Party.”
Co-host George Stephanopoulos asked, “Could 14-year-old Robin Roberts have imagined she’d be having a bachelorette party on national television?”
“Uh-uh, no,” said Roberts, shaking her head. “Especially to a woman.”
“It’s going to be one for the books,” said co-host Ginger Zee.
For the “Bachelorette Party,” the couple was taken to a set with a Florida beach theme.
Describing the evolution of their relationship for “GMA,” Roberts and Laign said it started with an instant connection during a blind date arranged by friends.
Serving as caregivers for each other helped convince them they could make it through low points. But it was the confinement of the pandemic that finally convinced them they were ready to marry. With Roberts appearing on “GMA” remotely from their home, Laign was pressed into service as a producer.
“We had talked about marriage off and on during the course of our relationship, and it didn’t come through for whatever reasons,” Roberts said. “But after the lockdown, we were like, yeah, we kind of like being around each other almost 24/7.”
According “GMA,” “The official marriage proposal came in a fittingly casual way at the end of 2022. The couple decided to wed while eating at a favorite restaurant together in Connecticut, where they put rings of calamari on each other’s fingers.”
“We took the calamari rings and we slapped them on each other’s fingers and we just we proposed to one another,” Roberts said.
“Now looking back, it was pretty fitting for us to not have a down on one knee [proposal] and one person doing it and who was going to propose. It was just us hanging out in our little hole-in-the-wall Mexican spot and putting calamari rings on each other and saying, ‘Let’s go. Let’s do it.’”
The wedding will take place in September.