T.J. Holmes joked that he has plans to attend couples therapy with Amy Robach just for the plot.
During the Thursday, September 19, episode of their new “I Do, Part 2” podcast with Jennie Garth and Jana Kramer, Holmes, 47, opened up about his history with professional counseling.
“I never knew people went to therapy until maybe I was in my late 30s. I’m a Black man in the south. There’s no talk about [that]. There’s just some things that did not get discussed and never heard about,” Holmes explained. “It wasn’t until recently where I was the height of my professional success — but it was the lowest I’d ever been in my personal life.”
After Holmes “finally just hit a wall” emotionally, someone in his life urged him to speak to a therapist.
“Somebody who wasn’t even that close to me recognized and identified it. They immediately got me into therapy,” he recalled. “And it’s true that they say it’s like dating. You have to go around from therapist to therapist and find one that works for you.”
Holmes noted that once he chose a professional it was “helpful,” adding, “It’s not something I keep up, but it was helpful for some of the darkest periods of my life.”
The experience paved the way for Holmes to consider couples therapy with Robach, 51. “I haven’t done couples therapy with Robach yet,” he said before quipping, “We’ve talked about doing so. We don’t know why — we just want to go and see what happens.”
Robach and Holmes have offered a candid look into their relationship since launching their various podcasts. Their first episode premiered one year after the former GMA3 costars made headlines for getting cozy outside of the office on numerous occasions. Robach was married to Andrew Shue at the time and Holmes was married to Marilee Fiebig. They both filed for divorce after their relationship was exposed in November 2022 and have said their respective marriages were over before they started dating.
Earlier this year, the pair surprised listeners when they focused an episode of their “Amy and T.J.” podcast on addressing a fight they had.
“We weren’t expecting to record one today. It’s going to be a surprise to our iHeart team that we even have this podcast, and it’s even a surprise to Robach, who is sitting here next to me, not in the studio. We are in our living room right now,” Holmes explained in January. “We ain’t right. You and I aren’t OK right now. I said, ‘You know what? Let’s set up and do a podcast.’”
Robach agreed that the pair weren’t on the same page at the moment.
“I felt extremely disconnected from you, and I am someone who does want and needs physical touch, words of affirmation and communication,” she said, adding that Holmes was “emotionally removed” from their relationship. “The last few days, I felt disconnected from you.”
Robach asked Holmes to make more of an effort to communicate his feelings. Holmes, however, found it difficult to see where Robach’s concerns about their relationship were coming from. After a tense back-and-forth, Holmes owned up to the fact that he can close himself off instead of addressing their issues.
After fans questioned the status of their relationship, Robach and Holmes reassured the public that they were good.
“We just wanted to check in and let you know that, despite what you’ve been hearing, we are still together,” Holmes noted via Instagram at the time. “We’re hearing from a lot of you all on our latest episode of the podcast. It was something we really struggled and debated about whether or not we should even put out there — but at this point I’m glad we did.”
Robach explained why she and Holmes decided to record themselves confronting their issues, adding, “Our larger goal in putting out our latest episode was to show that, yes, we like to show pictures of us smiling like everyone else and laughing on social media, but if we want to be real and we want to be transparent, we wanted to show all the sides of us and I would say most relationships. So we hope that all you get something out of it and we hope you keep coming back.”