T.J. Holmes opened up about a recent incident when a woman accused him of stealing her phone while he was on a flight with his girlfriend, Amy Robach.
According to People, Holmes, 46, candidly discussed the incident on Monday’s episode of the Amy & T.J. podcast, revealing that they were on a flight to Los Angeles when the woman accused him of stealing the mobile device. The former GMA host said she approached him as he exited the first-class bathroom and began questioning him about it.
“She steps toward me and gestures — almost like she’s about to frisk me — and says, ‘Oh, you don’t have it,’” Holmes recounted before continuing: “[She] flat out accuses me of taking her phone.”
Holmes was surprised by the woman’s accusation and asked why she had suspected him of taking her phone.
“At this point, she’s a short lady, so I actually scooch, I crouch down, I put my hands on my knees and get down to her level, and I say, ‘Ma’am, are you telling me I took your phone?’” he explained. “And then she says, ‘Oh, no, but it was there,’ and then kind of ignores me.”
Page Six reported that Holmes also shared with his listeners that the passenger was an elderly white woman who was seated four rows in front of him and had a flight attendant with her when she addressed him.
He said the flight attendant was “overly apologetic” about the situation as the woman raved about her phone. Holmes recalled going back to his seat “next to row 5C,” watching as the passenger continued searching for it. She later found her phone and began saying “I’m so sorry!” repeatedly.
“Sorry doesn’t cut it at that point,” Robach, 51, said.
Holmes shared how he had to maintain his composure during the situation and was relieved there were other people around to vouch for him.
“I have to be calm,” he said. “If there weren’t more people around then I wouldn’t have bent down and been as assertive as I was because I wouldn’t have a witness that I wasn’t aggressive towards her.”
As Blavity reported, Holmes and Robach began publicly dating after rumors started circulating about their romance in November 2022; ABC News President Kim Godwin decided to take the two off the air the following month. The pair were then terminated from their positions at the network in January 2023.
At the time, Robach was married to actor Andrew Shue and Holmes was married to attorney Marilee Fiebig. The pair were married for 12 years before Holmes filed for divorce in December 2022.
