When Al Roker was in the hospital at the end of last year, many of his fans and coworkers at Today were there to look out for him. But his wife Deborah Roberts was the one who really cared for and supported him the most.
Last year, the popular weatherman had a life-threatening health crisis because of blood clots in his lungs. He missed Today, which he has been a part of for almost thirty years, and was in and out of the hospital from late November until January 6, 2023.
His health is better now, but he has to have surgery soon to replace his knee. He is back on Today, but his wife of 27 years can’t help but notice that they are still hurting from what happened.
Deborah is a news anchor for ABC News. At the premiere of Brooke Shields’ documentary Beautiful Baby, she talked to Entertainment Tonight about her job as her husband’s guardian.
Her words, “I think a lot of people don’t realize—and I never did—that being a carer is incredibly draining, exhausting, scary, and all of those things.”
The reporter said, “I’ve never been through anything like this, and I pray I never do it again.”
“But it’s terrible,” she said, adding that even though Al is in much better shape, it has been hard to get past the dark time: “I think I’m still healing.” I’m still worn out. “My mind is still tired.”
“But you know what? I’m happy right now and trying to enjoy the fact that he’s okay and we’re all okay,” she said.
Deborah is lucky because Al is “back to driving me crazy” and she has a wonderful support system. When asked how she got through the health scare her husband was having, she said, “My faith and spirituality helped me through it.”
“Both my family and my coworkers helped me get through it.” Many of my coworkers are here now and helped me keep going when I thought I couldn’t. Because people were there and texted, emailed, and called, everything changed.