‘Good Morning America’ Hosts, Then and Now

Robin Roberts

In 2005, Roberts was promoted from newsreader to co-anchor of Good Morning America.

“If anyone listened closely, they could hear my knees knocking underneath the desk because [Sawyer and Gibson] are the Mount Rushmore of TV journalists,” Roberts told PEOPLE of joining the team, adding that they were “extremely welcoming.”

Reflecting on her time on the show, Roberts told PEOPLE that she and her co-anchors “don’t take lightly” the fact that they get to say good morning to America.

“It is a privilege,” she said. “There’s an intimacy to morning television as opposed to other news programs. People are getting dressed and starting their day, and they’re learning things that are happening, and they feel like we’re there to give them a hug or hold their hand and give them the proper information.”

Roberts continues to co-anchor Good Morning America today. In her personal life, she’s been married to Amber Laign since September 2023.

George Stephanopoulos

Stephanopoulos first appeared on the news show program in 1992 — but not as a host. He appeared on the show while he was Bill Clinton’s top advisor during his presidential campaign.

In 1997, he joined ABC as an analyst, telling PEOPLE that he had no desire to become an anchor at the time.

“When they first came to me with the idea that I should join Robin as a co-anchor, I said, ‘Are you kidding? That’s not what I do,’ ” Stephanopoulos recalled. “And I said, ‘No.’ We were living in D.C. at the time and I just didn’t think it was the right fit for me.”

After a third “heartfelt and very persuasive pitch” by the president of ABC News, Stephanopoulos joined the team in 2009, where he remains today.

“It was one of the best professional decisions I ever made,” Stephanopoulos told PEOPLE.

Stephanopoulos has been married to Ali Wentworth since 2001. They share two daughters.

Michael Strahan

Strahan, a former NFL player, joined Good Morning America in 2016 after leaving Live! With Kelly and Michael.

Much like Stephanopoulos, Strahan wasn’t sure sitting in the anchor chair was the right move for himself.

“When they offered it to me, I said, ‘No, I don’t do news. What are you talking about?’ ” he recalled to PEOPLE. “I pretty much realized I was saying no more out of fear instead of at least giving it a shot. So I’m so happy that I did. But yeah, when I first got the call, I literally thought they had the wrong person.”

Strahan shares four children — Tanita, Michael Jr., Isabella and Sophia — with his two ex-wives, Wanda Hutchins and Jean Muggli. 

Lara Spencer

Spencer has been at the news show on and off for over a decade, though she was named a co-anchor in 2011.

Reflecting on GMA’s 50th anniversary show on Nov. 3, Spencer called the broadcast episode a major “pinch-me moment.”

“To look over and see Diane, Charlie, Joan, Nancy — it just was a trip down memory lane, not only for me as a member of the GMA family, but also before that, growing up with GMA and watching with my family,” she said.

Spencer has been married to husband Rick McVey since 2018.

Ginger Zee

Zee joined the news program in 2011 and was promoted to chief meteorologist in 2013.

Following GMA’s 50th anniversary show, Zee opened up about one of her favorite parts of the show: “the truthfulness.”

“There are many mornings that are not full of sunshine and rainbows, and I think Robin does a really great job at this — we just say it like it is and feel it like it is,” the meteorologist told PEOPLE. “Not every day feels good in the studio, and that’s okay. That’s how life is. And so I think that’s one of my favorite parts, is the real part of it.”

Zee wed husband Ben Aaron in June 2014. The couple share two sons.

Charlie Gibson

Gibson, who previously worked as ABC News’ White House correspondent, was named co-anchor of Good Morning America in 1987.

He anchored the broadcast until 1998, when he took a short break from the program before returning to relaunch it with Sawyer from January 1999 until June 2006.

Gibson was part of the show during some of the biggest news moments of the past several years, including the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

After leaving the program, he went on to serve as the anchor of ABC World News from 2006 until 2009.

Gibson and his wife, Arlene, share two daughters and five grandchildren, according to The Boston Globe.

Diane Sawyer

Sawyer brought a hard-news approach — and nearly 1 million more viewers — to Good Morning America when she joined the desk in January 1999. While on the show, she interviewed several presidents, from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama, and world leaders, including Cuba’s late Fidel Castro.

Over nearly 3,000 shows and several accolades later, Sawyer left the news show in December 2009. She opened her final broadcast by reflecting on her time on the show and leaving a heartfelt message to her viewers.

“I’m going to try to take the advice of that immortal philosopher, Dr. Seuss, who said, ‘Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.’ And this morning I am beaming at all of you,” she said, per ABC News. “My heart is smiling. And the privilege of sharing my mornings with all of you has been more than I can say.”

She went on to replace Gibson as the anchor of ABC World News, though she left in 2014. A year later, her husband, director Mike Nichols, died at 83 years old.

Joan Lunden

Lunden joined Good Morning America as co-host in 1980. Nearly 17 years later, she left the show in 1997, and at the time, said it was because she wanted to spend mornings with her children, per the Los Angeles Times.

However, years later, she opened up more about her exit during a December 2022 conversation with Yahoo!, revealing that she was allegedly pushed out due to ageism and sexism. However, she reportedly made an agreement with the president of the network that the official reason given to the world would be she was “tired of the morning shift.”

“I didn’t talk about it for a long, long time. I believe in going out with class… as opposed to getting angry, like, what’s the point?” she said.

Lunden is a mom of seven children, whom she shares with her ex-husband, producer Michael Krauss, and her husband, Jeff Konigsberg.

David Hartman

Hartman was one of the first Good Morning America co-anchors during its debut on Nov. 3, 1975. After more than a decade with the show, Hartman departed in 1987.

In a statement at the time, vice president of early morning television for ABC Philip R. Beuth said that Hartman had “changed the face of morning television.”

“We will miss him and so will millions of Americans who look to him and ‘GMA’ every day for assurance that all was well with their world and their lives,” he said, per UPI. “His contributions have been enormous.”

Decades later, Hartman told ABC News on Nov. 3 that it was a “flat-out privilege” to be part of what GMA brought to the world.

“To have the opportunity to try to bring information to people in the audience, our viewers, who could take some information away from our program, and put it to work in some kind of useful, productive way in their own personal lives, that was our goal,” he said.

Hartman was married to Maureen Downey until her death of cancer in 1997, per Ad Week. In 2001, he wed Mary Putman.

Nancy Dussault

Alongside Hartman, Dussault was among the first to welcome viewers to Good Morning America when it first premiered. Nearly two years later, she was replaced by Sandy Hill in April 1977.

Dussault returned to the desk for the special anniversary broadcast on Nov. 3, where she reflected on the early days of the show.

“I’m used to staying up very late from the theater, so it was quite a jolt,” Dussault, who was a Tony-nominated actress before joining GMA, said. “We went on the air about 10 days after I was hired. David had already been hired.”

Dussault continued to act after Good Morning America, starring in 1979’s The In-Laws and 1997’s The Nurse.