‘GMA’ Stars Get Candid About Working Together & How Show Has Changed

Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, and Michael Strahan have opened up about working together and teased what goes on behind the scenes as  Good Morning America celebrates its 50th anniversary.

“I trust these two guys. They’re never going to try and make me look bad,” Roberts said of her coanchors in a joint interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Monday, November 3. “It hasn’t always been that way with people, not so much in this program, but in my career. But when you have the trust of the person that’s sitting on either side of you, that’s a huge safety net, and if you mess up, they’re going to be there to clean up your mess and not make you feel bad about it. And respect we could not be three more different people.”

According to Strahan, the hosting trio’s dynamic also works because they don’t compete with one another. “We’re happy when someone has success. We’re happy when families have success,” he gushed. “We don’t compete in any way against anything.”

Stephanopoulos, for his part, added that the GMA cast always has each other’s backs. “If one of us is more tired one morning, you know that someone else is gonna pick up,” he shared.

Hosts from GMA‘s past and present — including Nancy Dussault, Charlie Gibson, Diane Sawyer, Joan Lunden, and Spencer Christian, among others — gathered together to celebrate the show’s milestone anniversary on Monday. During the episode, the stars reflected on their favorite on-air and behind-the-scenes memories, Disney CEO Bob Iger renamed the GMA studio in its honor, and Patti LaBelle and Nona Hendryx performed their hit track “Lady Marmalade.” The episode ended with the cast cutting a celebratory 50th anniversary cake.

ABC

GMA debuted on ABC back in 1975 with Dussault and David Hartman as the show’s original hosts. While the show continues to deliver the latest political, current events, and entertainment news, Roberts stated that the series has significantly “changed” over the years.

“America’s not the same as it was 50 years ago. And I think we’ve adapted to the needs and wants of our audience, and we talk about those things that have changed, the one thing that hasn’t changed is the audience, our focus on them,” she told the outlet. “I think all the years that we’ve had this program, we always focus on, okay, who’s watching us? What is it that they need? What is it that they want? And those needs and wants have changed over the decades, but I just got caught up when you just said, there’s not many programs that have been around that long.”

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Stephanopoulos noted that their “competition” has also changed, as “Fox was only a year old” when he joined GMA in 1997. Roberts also credited changes in media consumption to the show’s evolution, adding, “It used to be like, okay, 7 a.m. you’re at home getting the kids ready. Now with this, you can watch us anytime. It’s on your demand, not so much us. And I think that has changed a great deal as where people watch us and how they watch Good Morning America.”

Roberts and Stephanopoulos have led GMA together since 2009, with Strahan joining them at the hosting desk in 2016. Though he initially declined the position “twice,” Strahan now has no regrets about taking the job.

“I think you have to come here every day with a new amazement, a childlike curiosity and a childlike energy, because for me, I just want it to be fresh every day,” he shared. “It’s always been fresh to me every day for all the years that I’ve been here. … When I think back on it personally, I think what an unrealized opportunity I had at that time, it would turn into one of the best experiences of my entire life.”

Good Morning America, Weekdays, 7 a.m. ET, ABC