Roberts thanks girlfriend following rare illness

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robin Roberts thanked her longtime girlfriend, Amber Laign, in a year-end post published on the ABC News anchor's Facebook page on Sunday, confirmed Heather Riley of ABC. The message comes after Roberts' battle with a life-threatening illness.

The transplant — in which liquefied bone marrow donated by her sister, Sally-Ann, was slowly injected through an intravenous drip — took place in Sept., 2012 at New York's Presbyterian Hospital. At that time, it was reported that during the 90-minute procedure, "Roberts was surrounded by her closest friends, family and some co-workers."

Her 'coming out' announcement this week is the first time the "Good Morning America" anchor has publicly acknowledged her 10-year, same-sex relationship with Laign, a massage therapist from the San Francisco Bay Area.

The host reached a 100 day benchmark on Sunday following a bone marrow transplant she underwent in September 2012 to treat the blood and bone marrow disease.

In May, Grand Central Publishing announced Roberts will write a memoir telling the story of her battle with the life-threatening illness and the life lessons she continues to gather following her return to "GMA" this past February.
 

Robin Dorner - The Gayly Editor in Chief, contributed to this report. Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Published by The Gayly on Dec. 30, 2013 @1:50pm.