T.J. Holmes cheerfully called colleague Amy Robach his “best friend” and his “Good Morning America” anchor chair his “dream job” in a Post interview just weeks before his professional and personal life came crashing down.
“I am a really, really lucky dude … I am now in my absolute dream job … And I get to sit next to my best friend doing it,” he gushed to The Post on Oct. 21, ahead of running the Nov. 6 TCS New York City Marathon with Robach.
The disgraced host, 45, spoke about how happy he was co-anchoring the third hour of GMA3 with Robach, 49 — blissfully unaware that job was about to be in jeopardy.
“I never ever ever could have imagined things working out the way they have,” he said.
On Nov. 30, the news broke that the stars were allegedly having an affair. Starting on Dec. 5, the canoodling cohosts were taken off the air as ABC decides their fates and investigates their relationship.
It has since been revealed that Holmes allegedly had affairs with multiple ABC staffers and the station is looking into whether or not he broke company rules by dating women who were less senior in the hierarchy.
Before the scandal exploded, Holmes seemed to think his network status was secure — and he wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. “So what’s next in my career? I got a great thing going and I want to keep it going as long as I can,” he said.
The Arkansas native explained what made the gig so great.
“I get to show my personality and I still get to do news,” he said. “I still get to go live. I still get to travel.”
Ironically, the father of three said he wasn’t certain where his life and career were heading long-term — but seemed to expect more success.
“I get the question, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?’” he said. “And I have no idea because every plan I’ve had in my life … I did not end up there, but I ended up somewhere even better than I could have imagined.”
Holmes credited Robach, who married “Melrose Place” actor Andrew Shue in 2010, for his newfound love of running.
“I’ve always run as part of exercise, but I never really called myself a runner . . . but she’s the one that got me into keeping up with my time and distance,” he said.
“She kind of publicly shamed me for quite a while,” he joked. “So yes, it was all Robach.”
He also revealed that his wife, Marilee Fiebig, an immigration lawyer and chief diversity officer at Save the Children US, whom he wed in 2010, found his recent commitment to the pastime surprising.
“She has seen me go from the way I used to work out to now walking out and saying, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna go run 12 miles,” he told The Post. “She’s like, ‘What?’”
