In honor of Tamron Hall’s 1000th episode, she has thought about others who have helped her come this far. Notably, GMA anchor Robin Roberts has been one of Hall’s biggest supporters.

For the milestone episode, she asked Roberts to appear as a guest. During the segment, they relieved one of Roberts’ career-defining moments as a journalist. The interview clearly brought up difficult memories for the Good Morning America hostess, but fans agreed it certainly solidified her career as an honest and authentic anchor.

GMA Journalist Robin Roberts Inspires Hostess Tamron Hall

As the Tamron Hall interview began, the women caught up about their recent adventures.

Robin Roberts informed the audience that she just returned from North Carolina where she spoke to survivors of Hurricane Helene. She noted that her experience with Hurricane Katrina made her truly empathize with Asheville residents. Roberts understood their struggles and fears more than anyone else.

Tamron Hall went on to share that Robin Roberts has been tremendously influential on her own journalistic abilities.

“I always talk about how much I love you and one of the reasons is that you are truly the most influential person,” the talk show hostess explained. “One of the goals for this show was I wanted to break through. On my vision board was your moment when you were covering Hurricane Katrina and you learned that your family was okay. That raw emotion and realness that day Robin… I was like, ‘this is how we break through.’”

Robin let out an “oh boy,” as Tamron spoke. The GMA hostess vividly recalled the moment and how it transformed her career forever.

Anchor Robin Roberts Describes Her Big “Ugly Cry” Moment On Air

Robin Roberts explained that in the summer of 2005, she was struggling with imposter syndrome because she just landed an anchoring position alongside Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson. Covering something as large as Hurricane Katrina wasn’t on her radar.

“The hurricane hits, I’m asked to go down there, I had lost contact with my family,” Roberts recalled, adding that it wasn’t uncommon for the power to go out during storms in the deep south. “And so I get down there, and there was no way I was going on air until I knew my mama was okay.”

The Good Morning America anchor shares that she found her mother “just moments” before she was due to be live on air. Understandably, Robin wanted to stay at home with her mother. However, her mother encouraged her to go and do her duty as a journalist.

“It was Charlie [Gibson] who said, ‘When you left here, you didn’t know the condition of your family. Did you find them?’ I mean the ugly cry,” Robin admitted. “Because I knew a lot of people were tuning in that morning not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones and I had felt that. And so what it taught me though, Tamron, is be yourself. Just show up. Be you.”

Check out the interview here:

Did you catch the exciting 1000th episode of Tamron Hall? What do you think about Robin Roberts’ harrowing account of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath? Add your own thoughts and ideas in the comments below.