Robin Roberts and Amber Laign spent 18 years together before deciding that 2023 was the year they would get married. Roberts announced the wedding plans on Good Morning America, where she works as an anchor, by telling author Gabrielle Bernstein the happy news.
“I’m saying yes to marriage. We’re getting married this year,” Roberts said. She explained how hesitant she was to share the joyful news because she hadn’t “said it out loud yet.”
Roberts revealed that the pair had discussed marriage in the past but “put it off” after Laign was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021. Laign had to delay her cancer treatment due to “complications with chemotherapy,” but eventually completed radiation therapy in July 2022. Roberts is also a breast cancer survivor. She underwent a bone marrow transplant in 2012.
Bernstein responded to the wedding plans by urging Roberts to “create a wedding vision board,” but Roberts was too busy fanning herself with note cards in disbelief that she had made the announcement.
“I can’t believe I said that,” Roberts said.
Robin Roberts and Amber Laign began dating in 2005 but Roberts did not officially publicize her sexual orientation until December 2013.
While recovering from her breast cancer diagnosis a decade ago, Roberts made a Facebook post. She wrote: “I am grateful for my entire family, my longtime girlfriend, Amber, and friends as we prepare to celebrate a glorious new year together. I am grateful for the many prayers and well wishes for my recovery. I return every one of them to you 100 fold.”
The pair shared their 15th anniversary in 2020. Laign reminisced about the blind date where they met in an Instagram caption. “15 years ago I met you for drinks on a blind date that both you and I tried to cancel…twice,” she began. “Your grace caught my eye right away and the ease of the evening continued to flow through dinner. We had a second date soon after and I couldn’t believe how at ease I was with you as we shared each other’s lives sipping lychee and apple martinis. You left for Tahiti the following day and during that time apart I grew this feeling inside of me that still, is very present today….butterflies. Having you by my side is a gift as we continue to navigate this thing called life. I drive you crazy….I know which is why I love you even more to this day. You have the kindest heart and most beautiful soul than anyone I know. You have shown me time and time again to stay humble and to always treat others with the utmost respect as you never know what one might be going through ❤ Beautiful…..absolutely beautiful. I love you with all my heart.”
The pair’s decision to marry reflects a US-wide uptick in same-sex couple households. The number of same-sex couple households in the US has officially surpassed 1 million, and is now well over double the amount of same-sex couple households reported in 2008 (540,000).
Married same-sex households started to outnumber unmarried same-sex households in 2016, after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to legalize same-sex marriage in 2015.
President Biden recently signed legislation to codify federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, which passed Congress with bipartisan support. It is aptly named the Respect for Marriage Act.
