Robin Roberts

Earning three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Morning program during her tenure at ABC’s Good Morning America, Robin Roberts has conducted interviews with President Barack Obama, traveled to the Middle East with Laura Bush and scaled the Mayan Pyramids in Mexico while on assignment. A 1983 graduate of Southeastern Louisiana University with a communications degree, Roberts — a 20-year broadcast veteran who began reporting for GMA in 1995 — also contributes to ABC’s red carpet and primetime coverage.

A former member of SLU’s Lady Lions women’s basketball team, Mississippi native Roberts was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. From 1990-2005, Roberts contributed reporting to ESPN, anchoring the sports network’s famed SportsCenter and contributing to NFL PrimeTime.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, Roberts — the author of From the Heart: 7 Rules to Live By and an upcoming memoir — used her TV prominence to encourage testing and raise funds for cancer research, leading to accolades and awards from The Susan G. Komen Foundation and The Congressional Families Cancer Prevention Program.

Health woes plagued Roberts again five years later, and in taking her diagnosis of the rare blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) public in June 2012, Roberts helped encourage bone marrow donations for Be the Match as she prepared to undergo her own transplant with sister Sally-Ann, a New Orleans-based journalist, as her donor. Roberts successfully received her sister’s healthy marrow and following a five-month medical leave, returned to GMA on a part-time basis.

Roberts lives in New York City with her partner, Amber Laign.