Al Roker has opened up about how his wife, Deborah Roberts, has supported him as he experienced health difficulties.
In a new interview, the NBC anchor, 68, said that he wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for Roberts, 62.
The Today show weatherman was absent from his role for several days in November last year after he was rushed to hospital with blood clots in his legs and lungs.
In a new interview, Roker to PageSix that he was “just so overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and prayers and of course, my wife Deborah”.
He added: “I wouldn’t be alive without her.”
“I guess I know it now,” he confessed. “I didn’t know it at the time. Deborah was great at keeping all that away from me so I thought I was doing OK but that was great because I was able to focus on getting better.”
Roker and Roberts wed in 1995, after Roker split from ex-wife Alice Bell in 1994.
The weather anchor has three children, Courtney, 35, whom he shares with Bell, as well as his two children Leila, 24, and Nick, 20, who he shares with Roberts.
Explaining his illness, Roker revealed he “lost half my blood”, recalling he recalled of his hospitalization and internal bleeding, joking that he “went in for one operation [and] got four free.”
After fans expressed concern for his health, Roker revealed what had actually happened to him in an Instagram caption posted in November, in which he explained his absence from the show.
“So many of you have been thoughtfully asking where I’ve been. Last week I was admitted to the hospital with a blood clot in my leg which sent some clots into my lungs,” he wrote.
“After some medical whack-a-mole, I am so fortunate to be getting terrific medical care and on the way to recovery. Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers and hope to see you soon. Have a great weekend, everyone.”
In 2020, Roker announced that he had been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” prostate cancer.
He underwent the surgery in November 2020, and in January 2021 he received the good news that his cancer was “considered undetectable”.
