Robin Roberts' First Big Interview Was Super Embarrassing

Embarrassing experiences are a necessary but evil part of life. We all have cheek-reddening tales of our own, some that we will one day share at a wedding while slightly intoxicated, spill by force during a round of "Never Have I Ever," or simply just take to our graves. Inescapable as they are, these situations happen only to torment your afternoons and haunt you at midnight, keeping you wide awake as you relive the moment repeatedly. 

Cringeworthy stuff happens to celebrities, too, which may serve as a consolatory reminder that we are human after all, and we can laugh at awkward situations. Countless of our favorite singers have fallen onstage during performances, and actors have whole blooper reels dedicated to their mistakes. One celebrity who can attest to having had an embarrassing moment on the job, particularly during her first big interview is "Good Morning America" host Robin Roberts. 

Roberts is an award-winning newscaster who had an early start in anchoring sports news. She rose to fame as a reporter for ESPN and host of "Good Morning America" where she celebrated her 20th anniversary in 2022. However, Roberts had a unique sort of meltdown during her first interview and her story would probably make you feel better about your first day on the job. 

Before she was confidently dishing out news like a drill sergeant, Robin Roberts was a nervous college student whose first interview would be burned into her memory forever. The broadcast journalist shared her experience on the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2021, chronicling how she had had an embarrassing accident in front of the person she had been interviewing.

DeGeneres asked Roberts if she remembered her first time interviewing someone important. Roberts did, but she shared that it didn't go as well as she could've hoped. "My first big interview, I was still in college," explained Roberts, "and I was quite nervous, and I — how can I make this — I wet myself." DeGeneres clarified Roberts' confession with, "You spilled water on yourself?" to which the broadcast journalist stuttered for a bit before piggybacking onto the opening saying, "Oh, yes, okay, I'll go with that. I wish — no, it was like 'clean up on aisle one' after I did the big interview."

Roberts disclosed that she was very nervous during the interview and, to this day, could not recall who the interviewee was. However, she was sure that whoever the person was, they must've noticed her little excretory accident. "I was really wanting to make an impression. And I think I really did," she said.

While Robin Roberts did have a terrifying time at the start of her journalistic career, her interviews have now become game-changing and inspiring to many people, including herself. The reporter revealed to Ellen DeGeneres in a 2022 episode that she had almost refused a 2012 interview with former U.S. President Barack Obama about marriage equality.

According to Roberts, she was afraid that her conducting the interview would be too much of a smoke signal that she was gay. "I had not been public yet about being gay, and I was afraid that I might be outed, that people might wonder, 'Why is she the one interviewing the president when he's making this change in his stance?'"

Eventually, it dawned on her that she had to go through with the interview to advance the cause. "It was kind of like a scene out of 'Moonstruck.' 'Snap out of it. Robin, what are you thinking? It's not about you. This man is going to impact countless lives,'" she said.

Her groundbreaking interview with Obama gave her the courage to live her own truth. The award-winning journalist publicly came out as gay in 2013, just a year after the interview, and introduced her longtime partner, Amber Laign, to the world.