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Robin Roberts is celebrating 20 years at “Good Morning America” and the publication of her new book “Brighter by the Day: Waking Up to New Hopes and Dreams.”
“Extra” Special Correspondent Tommy DiDario caught up with the anchor, who revealed who she would still love to interview, how she’s coping during her wife Amber’s battle with breast cancer, and how she hopes to inspire with her “Brighter” book.
Tommy congratulated her on 20 years at “GMA,” asking, “Is there someone you would still like to interview you have not?”
Roberts told him, “Chris Rock or Vladimir Putin… you could not get two more extremes.”
Robin is a breast cancer survivor who also had to undergo a bone marrow transplant after being diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome in 2012. Now, she’s helping Amber through her cancer battle.
Roberts has said in the past that being the caregiver can be more difficult in some ways. She further explained to Tommy, “When you’re the patient, you know what you’re doing. You have your treatment, your doctors, you have people watching over you helping you. When you’re on the other end as a caregiver, you feel helpless and that has been difficult.”
Getting emotional, she continued, “I don’t like the feeling of helplessness, even though I can help her navigate what it’s like to be a cancer patient… Some things that didn’t happen to me happened to her, which has delayed her treatment… Amber is a light. Any time that light is dimmed, it just breaks my heart because that’s not who she is.”
Roberts went on, “But she is amazing. She’s got her spirits up again and we know we’re going to tackle it… We can handle it… Together we will… She encourages me now as much as she did before as when she was the caregiver.”
Robin’s message? “Focus on the fight, not the fright.”
Now, Roberts is hoping to help others trying to tackle tough times with “Brighter by the Day.”
She said, “I take these principles of optimism and turn it into a practice for people that will hopefully be a guide for you and help you.
Tommy asked, “Times are challenging right now — how can we make each day a little bit brighter?”
Roberts said, “All of us have a bad day. I’m not immune from that, and I remember my mama. I’d say, ‘I’m having a bad day,’ and she’d say, ‘Oh, well, honey ,that’s too bad. Go to bed, end the day. Why are you staying up?’ And I would go, ‘That’s right.’ And she would say, ‘Honey, things are going to be brighter tomorrow,’ and that’s what I want people to know with ‘Brighter by the Day,’ that yes, every single day there are endless possibilities and we are a limited edition.”
“Brighter by the Day” is out now.