Amy Robach can hardly believe that her eldest daughter, Ava, is 21 years old.
“My sweet, happy, passionate girl is all grown up!!!” Robach, 50, captioned a Friday, December 29, Instagram tribute to her firstborn. “Happy 21 baby, cheers to you and all the joy you bring to the world 🥂.”
Robach shares Ava and younger daughter Annalise, 17, with ex-husband Tim McIntosh. The former GMA3 broadcaster and McIntosh split in 2009.
To celebrate Ava’s special day, Robach took her and Annalise out to dinner with their friends. The mother-daughter trio twinned in black as they marked the occasion at Suprema Provisions in New York City. At the end of the evening, Ava was presented with a layered cake from Milk Bar that had been topped with candles.
“So mean,” Ava captioned an Instagram Story post on Friday, sharing a video of her failed attempt to blow out the lit candles at once.
Robach has a special bond with her two daughters, which faltered amid her divorce from Andrew Shue and her subsequent romance with T.J. Holmes. Ava and Annalise had found out online that their mother was dating her now-former GMA3 costar Holmes, 46, online. (News broke in November 2022 that Robach and Holmes were an item after they each secretly separated from their spouses. Holmes was previously married to attorney Marilee Fiebig, who has since moved on with Shue.)
“We thought we were protecting our children and our families, and we thought we had time,” Robach said during the debut episode of the couple’s “Amy & T.J.” podcast earlier this month. “And we thought we had a right to privacy. And maybe that was foolish and silly.”
She continued: “I’m still saying I’m sorry [to my daughters]. It’s one thing for us to deal with the press and to deal with the headlines and, honestly, the paparazzi that have become as much a part of our lives as anything. … And so when I’m with my daughters, they’re there and their pictures are being taken. I just try to put myself in their shoes. It’s their family, and they’re so young, they don’t have the tools or the life experience to even really be able to put it into perspective. And it’s just been a really hard, hard journey that will continue. We’re all in therapy.”
Weeks later, Robach noted on her podcast that Ava and Annalise had formed friendships with Holmes back when the journalists were “just friends.” Since the couple began dating, it was difficult for their respective kids to adjust to the changing reality. (Holmes shares daughter Sabine with Fiebig and two older children with ex-wife Amy Ferson.)
“Things are good. They’re peaceful. We want to continue to build on that,” Robach said on the December 21 episode, noting she and Holmes are trying to be “patient” and “thoughtful” of the kids’ feelings.
