Robin Roberts says she almost turned down a chance to interview then-President Barack Obama about marriage equality in 2012, fearing she would be outed.
Roberts says on Monday’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show that in 2012 — the year before she came out publicly — she received a call to go to the White House to interview Obama.
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She was told, “There was a possibility that [he] would change its stance on marriage equality. I hadn’t come out publicly about being gay, and I was afraid that I might be outed, that people might be like, ‘Why is she the one interviewing the President when he has this change in attitude doing?’”
But she said she soon came to her senses.
“It was like a scene from Moonstruck: ‘Stop it; Robin, what are you thinking? It’s not about you This man will affect countless lives.’ And in that moment, I said, “I’m going to stop letting fear hold me back from the things I want to do.”
Roberts said she’s glad she changed her mind and it inspired her to open up about her longtime relationship with Amber Laign.
“I’m so thankful I did that [interview with Obama]’ she told DeGeneres. “Shortly after that I was talking about Amber on Instagram or social media and all the fear I had as a Christian that people would look at me differently. [But] I was hugged. Again, if we just stop and think about how often we let fear keep us on the edge and I’m so, so glad that’s not the case anymore. I won’t get everything I want in life and I won’t achieve everything, but damn it, fear won’t be the reason I don’t.”
Roberts, who is promoting her new book Brighter by the Day: Wake Up to New Hopes and Dreams, encouraged others not to be afraid to show who they really are.
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“Each one is a limited edition,” she said, adding, “I mean, how many times [do] Are you attracted to people you know are your true authentic self? It’s just something more and more people are starting to embrace, and I’m grateful for that.”
During the interview with DeGeneres, Roberts also opens up about Laign’s breast cancer diagnosis and reveals that she was a bus driver in high school.
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