Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art? In the case of morning shows and The Morning Show, the answer is more like a snake eating its own tail. The series was born from the real-life scandal surrounding Matt Lauer’s sexual misconduct allegations, but seemingly fabricated the affair between the hosts of its titular show. But now a couple of the hosts of a real-life morning show are being exposed for an alleged affair, and the lines are truly being blurred between morning news and primetime drama.
The internet is abuzz after the Daily Mail published photos of Good Morning America co-anchors Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes that imply a romantic relationship. People provided yet more sordid details about the pair, both of whom are married, including a source who claims rumors of an affair have been circulating behind the scenes at GMA for a year. Further fueling the tabloid fodder is the fact that Robach previously told People that the pair have “gone on tons of double dates with our spouses and my daughters babysit his daughters.” They also, the outlet reports, “bought Robach and Holmes domain names online in case they ever decided to start a podcast or website together.” Huh!
One can practically hear The Morning Show writers salivating over the situation—if only they hadn’t already used the co-host affair card with Alex and Mitch (Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell, respectively), or Bradley and Laura (Reese Witherspoon and Juliana Marguilies, respectively), or any of the other various workplace relationships of varying appropriateness that have occurred on the Apple TV+ series. Though if the purchasing of a joint domain name can be dramatized, this writer would like to see it happen.
To complete the ouroboros, The Morning Show (which is based partly on consulting producer Brian Stelter’s book Top Of The Morning) apparently spent time on the set of GMA when they began production, according to one of the other hosts, George Stephanopoulos. (Did they pick up on the vibe between the co-hosts back then?!) And as an amusing addendum, The Morning Show guest star Mindy Kaling tweeted on Thursday: “Good Morning America is trending because of my appearance on it, right?” Mindy, don’t play coy! You’ve already written her piece about a Late Night host who has an affair with a coworker.
Showbiz insiders clearly love to fictionalize their own drama, though if you ask Katie Couric she would at least have preferred they made her fictionalized self more charismatic. Maybe Robach and Holmes will have more luck when they get their own thinly veiled storyline.
