Amy Robach Originally Said No to OnAir Mammogram That &x27;Saved My Life,&x27; Told Producers, &x27;I&x27;m Not Your Girl&x27; Cara Lynn ShultzThu, March 26, 2026 at 4:23 PM UTC 0 Amy Robach gets a mammogram onair in 2013Credit: Ida Mae Astute/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty During an appearance on Jennie Garth's I Choose...
Amy Robach Originally Said No to On-Air Mammogram That 'Saved My Life,' Told Producers, 'I'm Not Your Girl'
Cara Lynn ShultzThu, March 26, 2026 at 4:23 PM UTC
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Amy Robach gets a mammogram on-air in 2013Credit: Ida Mae Astute/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty -
During an appearance on Jennie Garth's I Choose... podcast, Amy Robach said that she originally turned down the assignment to get an on-air mammogram for Good Morning America in 2013
Robin Roberts encouraged Robach to do the mammogram, saying it could inspire others to get checked
Robach was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy
Amy Robach says she originally turned down the mammogram that saved her life, explaining that she felt "healthy."
The former Good Morning America anchor was asked to get a mammogram on air in 2013, but she didn't want the assignment. "I was not going to get a mammogram. At that point, I think the recommendation was 50. I had just turned 40," Robach, now 53, told Jennie Garth on the March 26 episode of the actress's I Choose... podcast. It wasn't until 2024 that all women aged 40 and above, regardless of family history, were recommended to get mammograms.
After the mammogram, Robach was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. She underwent a double mastectomy, as well as chemotherapy.
"I've always said I can never I can never be mad at ABC News or regret being in the profession I'm in because it absolutely saved my life," Robach, who left the morning show in 2023 amid scrutiny over her relationship with then-costar, and now-fiancé and podcast co-host, T.J. Holmes.
Robach explained that, at the time, getting a mammogram "was not even on my radar. And so when they asked me to get a mammogram, I just said, 'I'm not the right person. I have no connection. No one has cancer in my family. I'm really healthy.' " As she explained, "My mom is one of nine. My dad is one of six. I have so many aunts, so I actually cannot even tell you how many first cousins I have. And at the time, I had all my grandparents alive ... I prided myself on our good genes. No one had breast cancer."
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So Robach told producers, "I'm not your girl." But as she says, that's when Robin Roberts — who underwent treatment for breast cancer in 2007 — told Robach, " 'You're exactly the person who should do this because you think you don't need it.' And she's like, 'I'm sure you're fine.' But she was like, 'If you walk into that mammogram — or the "mammo van" that they had in Times Square … and you get a mammogram on live national television, I guarantee you, you will save a life. Some woman will make her appointment. She will go, and she will find her cancer because of you.' "
After Roberts shared her perspective, Robach explained, "That was impossible for me to say no to at that point. I was like, 'Okay, I'll do it.' " Meanwhile, "I'm sitting here telling Robin I have no connection to the disease. And meantime, I [had] two malignant tumors in my right breast," along with a lymph node that tested positive.
Amy Robach in Los Angeles in December 2025Credit: JC Olivera/Billboard via Getty
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Robach reflected on life as a cancer survivor, saying she's "constantly reminded" of her health struggle: "When you've had a double mastectomy and you've got scars, you've got these, like, hard rocks [of implants for reconstructive surgery], you have no feeling. I feel like I have two foreign objects sewn onto me. Your chest never feels the same. It's this strange sensation. So in a way, like, just from that sensation of the double mastectomy, it's always in the back of your mind. You know that you're a cancer survivor."
She shared whenever she gets caught up in the minutia of life, like — "someone cutting me off, or it's raining when I want sun or whatever … I have to remind myself that, 'Hey, I'm here. I woke up. It's good.' "
on People
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: March 26, 2026 at 06:36PM on Source: RED MAG
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