T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach are getting honest about their drinking in hopes of helping others reexamine their relationships with alcohol.
During the Thursday, January 11, episode of their “Amy and T.J.” podcast, Holmes, 46, and Robach, 50, offered an update on their Dry January experience after they both chose to cut out alcohol for the month.
While looking back at the past year, Robach said she was “appalled” at “how much” she drank, saying 2023 was her version of the “pandemic” due to the fallout of her and Holmes’ affair. (The pair, who previously worked together on GMA3, were photographed getting cozy outside of the office in late 2022 while they were still married to other people.)
“I didn’t have a job to go to and I was away from a lot of friends and family. What did I do? I drank a lot,” Robach explained on Thursday. “A lot more than I ever have. I don’t think I have ever gone a full day where I drink every single day and that was 2023 for me.”
She continued: “It wasn’t that I was getting wasted or drunk. It was keeping a buzz going all day or keeping a heightened state of mind during an anxious year.”
Holmes tried to appease Robach by pointing out that she’s not alone. “I am certainly someone who right now and in years past needs to reexamine my relationship with alcohol. And that’s what we are doing. Part of this is we have to be honest,” he shared. “So we are going to be honest about our alcohol intake, why we do it and what that number actually is and what we are going to be doing about it.”
Later in the episode, Holmes revealed he could “easily go through 18 drinks” a day. He clarified what he considered to be one drink, saying, “The official guidelines say one drink is one beer or a five ounce glass of wine or one and a half ounces of liquor.”
Holmes explained that he and Robach are “big runners” and said his girlfriend introduced him to a new technique. “I like to do my runs in the morning, but also something you got me into is a ‘run to fun.’ When you finish your run you end up at the bar,” he said. “Now we will run at 8 or 9 in the morning and I come back and we have a beer. I put two beers in the freezer and let them get a little colder and we will have the beer. So you have the one and I end up with two. So here we are at 10 in the morning two drinks in. That is easy.”
According to Holmes, the couple would usually have a “two drink minimum” at lunch.
“Now if we are not out and about for the day and we are just inside, I can easily have a drink in my hand from the afternoon until nine at night,” he continued. “You do those numbers and that’s a drink an hour for another eight hours. Or even less. But that is another eight hours of a drink in hand plus the four I had during the day.”
Robach chimed in, saying, “You aren’t actually pouring 18 drinks. You are counting the liquor you pour into it.”
As they examined their drinking habits, the pair researched how much money they spent a month on alcohol — and the results surprised them both. While Robach was embarrassed about spending $2,869 in December 2023 alone, Holmes noted that he expected a “higher” number.
“We added up in December how much money we spent on alcohol that month. We were able to do this by going back and looking at receipts from our account and we also looked at Drizly,” he told listeners. “This doesn’t include, however, the trips we made once in a while to a liquor store. This is strictly Drizly and going out.”
Robach tried to clarify that not all of the alcohol was consumed by them since they had visitors throughout the month.
The couple’s Dry January is one of many personal topics they have delved into since kicking off their podcast. The project marks their public return after their affair scandal, which they defended once they broke their silence in November 2023.
“The best way to sum us up, Amy and T.J., is that we’re the folks who lost the jobs we love because we love each other,” Holmes said in the show’s first episode. “I’m in love with this woman and she’s in love with me and we are planning a life together.”
Robach gushed over Holmes as well, adding, “Relationships are hard, they’re messy, they’re not perfect. We have fought for love, and I can say I have never been happier. I am with my best friend.”
If you or anyone you know is facing substance abuse issues, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for free and confidential information 24/7.
