Amy Robach Recalls Fourth of July Lightning Strike That Killed Her Uncle, Injured Her Parents

Amy Robach speaks onstage at the 23rd Annual ACE Awards in New York City on June 10, 2019. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Accessories Council

Amy Robach, a television reporter and former anchor of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” shared the details of a “very traumatic” Fourth of July lightning strike that left her parents critically injured and killed her uncle at a family gathering when she was a child.

Ms. Robach, 51, recounted the harrowing ordeal during a recent episode of her “Amy and T.J. Podcast,“ which she hosts with her partner and former ”Good Morning America” co-host, T.J. Holmes.

“One Fourth of July when I was 14 ... my parents got struck by lightning, and my uncle did, too,” she explained in the episode, published on July 2. “It’s actually pretty serious.”

Ms. Robach said the accident occurred during a thunderstorm at a Fourth of July family gathering at Briscoe Park in Snellville, Georgia, about 30 miles east of downtown Atlanta.

“It was a very traumatic thing. But my parents, my mom and dad, got seriously injured,” she said, explaining that she still gets “a little nervous” to this day when there are bad storms.

“My mom was in the hospital for weeks. My dad was in the ICU, but their tennis shoes got blown off of their feet. Their clothes had to be cut off of them. My dad had to have CPR performed on him. And my uncle Jack actually ultimately died,” Ms. Robach recalled.

“He was up against the tree that [was] hit, and my parents were blown standing next to him, and he just crumbled. So yes, lightning kills, and the Fourth of July is one of those holidays where everybody’s out and about, and it tends to be a thunderstorm-heavy holiday,” she said. “Things in my house changed after that.”

Family Traditions

Ms. Robach, who now resides in New York, explained that she hasn’t really attended any Independence Day events in the United States in recent years.

“I kind of got into a habit of traveling around the Fourth of July, just I haven’t even been in the country during the Fourth of July for many, many years, but we’re going to for the first time this year,” she shared.

However, Ms. Robach, who shares two daughters, Ava, 21, and Annalise, 18, with her ex-husband Tim McIntosh, noted that her children wouldn’t be in town for the holiday. “Both of my daughters are continuing the tradition and are going to be out of the country on the Fourth of July,” she said.

Earlier in the podcast episode, Ms. Robach and Mr. Holmes, 46, discussed the Independence Day traditions they enjoyed growing up, with Ms. Robach saying her family liked to attend Fourth of July potluck parties in her neighborhood.

“Fourth of July was huge,” she said. “When I was younger, I was living in, right outside of St. Louis, Missouri, and we lived on one of those cul-de-sacs where the whole street would all get together ... and everybody would bring a dish or two.”

Mr. Holmes—who has three children from previous relationships, said his family shared a similar sentiment about the holiday. “Growing up, every Fourth was huge for us,” he said, adding that his family would always congregate at the home of his grandfather, who owned a barbecue restaurant.

“Every dude in my family can go on the grill,” he said. “I do not remember a single Fourth in which I had a hamburger or hot dog. It was ribs, ribs, ribs, ribs, ribs, pork, pulled pork, pulled pork—all the time.”