Good Morning America host reveals struggle

TV anchor's marriage survives breast cancer, mastectomy, 'hurtful' People mag headline

Amy Robach, Andrew Shue at Breast
Cancer Research Foundation gala.

Statistically speaking, nine out of every 10 relationships will survive breast cancer, its treatments and its aftermath.

That may not sound so good, with 10 percent failing, but consider that conventional wisdom predicts as high as 50 percent of all marriages in the United States will fail sooner or later.

The positive 90 percent includes me, Woody Weingarten, and my wife, Nancy Fox; everyman John Doe and his everywoman wife, Jane; and 42-year-old Good Morning America host Amy Robach and her 48-year-old husband, actor-entrepreneur Andrew Shue.

Robach, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2013, admitted to People writer Emily Strohm in a series of stories last month and this one that the disease had threatened their marriage.

"All of a sudden I felt like I needed him in a very needy way, and that's not my personality," she said. "It threw everything up in the air. It was rough."

She said she had "completely crumbled" during the crisis.

He, in turn, explained that he struggled to find the right balance when it came to her emotions. "You find yourself walking on eggshells a little bit. Like, did I say the right thing? Did I do the right thing?"

After her diagnosis, which she'd disclosed — with Shue by her side — on television to Robin Roberts, another GMA anchor who successfully battled breast cancer, Robach underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy.

She was glad she'd chosen that particular surgery because physicians found a second malignancy that hadn't previously been detected.

But Robach and Shue both had to overcome their anxieties to reach the point where, she explained, she could learn "how strong we can be together. We're a solid team now." 

To get there, they had to "be honest about the fears" and change the way they were communicating. That included not withholding anything from each other.

Robach has also taken out the time to blast People for its negative headline, "Cancer Nearly Destroyed My Marriage," which she told "The View" had been "very hurtful." 

After her criticism, People softened its online headline.

Robach, who earlier had proclaimed that "I'm the poster child for someone who thought cancer couldn't happen to them," had been diagnosed after an on-air mammogram that had been intended "to help encourage women to get checked."

The news anchor has a new book, "Better," which tracks her battle with breast cancer and its aftermath.

Meanwhile, my book, "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," which is aimed at male caregivers, directly addresses how relationships can grow closer despite the ups and downs of the morass caused by the disease.

Check it out.

N.Y. governor supports cable star's surgery

Famed TV chef recovering from double mastectomy after breast cancer diagnosis in New York 

Sandra Lee gets kiss from partner,
N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in
hospital after double mastectomy.

Sandra Lee, celebrated Food Network chef and longtime partner of N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is recovering from a double mastectomy.

He was by her side during last month's operation — along with her sister, Kimber.

Cuomo, who's been the 48-year-old's boyfriend for a decade, has assumed the role of prime caregiver, one that I, Woody Weingarten, author of "Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer," am totally familiar.

Lee reported that the 57-year-old Cuomo had been "extremely supportive."

The star of "Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee" underwent the procedure last month after tearfully announcing it to co-anchor Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America." 

She said she'd been stunned by the diagnosis by her medical team that she was "a ticking time bomb." 

Lee said she hoped her story would inspire women to get mammograms, even though the cancer industry is split on what age those screenings should begin. 

Sandra Lee, recovering at home,
 admires gifts from fans.

Some groups recommend they don't start until age 50; others prescribe 40 as a beginning point.

Lee said that one of the first things she planned to do next was encourage the women in her family to have mammograms. She emphasized that if she'd waited until she was 50 to have the screening, "I probably wouldn't even be sitting here."

Her original lumpectomy hadn't resulted in clean margins, so she faced six to eight weeks of daily radiation. She opted not to do that.

She said, however, that she was opting for reconstruction surgery.

Roberts herself had breast cancer more than four years ago.

According to ABC News, a "devastated" Cuomo, when he originally heard the news, had said in a statement to the media that "a situation like this quickly puts life in the proper perspective and reminds one of what's truly important…I want to be with Sandy to support her in any way I can as she handles the trauma of her operation and the pain of the recovery."

Lee, who lost 15 pounds during her hospital stay, earlier had exclaimed that cancer "beats up your body [and] beats you up emotionally…I wasn't going to let it rob me from one day of happiness."

On her Facebook page, she subsequently wrote, after her week in the hospital and "a rough couple days" — "So happy to be in my own backyard. There is no place like home."