TJ Holmes & Amy Robach need to ‘insulate’ his daughter from affair ‘tension’ & they’re making a big mistake, expert says
TJ HOLMES and Amy Robach have shared the repercussions of their high-profile affair scandal in their first podcast episodes.
But a psychologist has urged the ousted GMA3 hosts to focus closer to home and rein in their “uncomfortable” publicity stunts.
TJ, 46, posted a photo on Instagram on Saturday showing him standing on a red carpet in New York with his daughter, Sabine, 11.
Sabine, whom TJ shares with his ex-wife, Marilee Fiebig, smiled back at the camera. TJ captioned the image: Still my #BabySabine.
The star-studded iHeart Radio Jingle Bell Ball on Friday saw Sabine photographed sandwiched between TJ and Amy, 50.
The three carried matching branded black tote bags.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Danielle Forshee claimed the photo stunt should have been “avoided.”
In an exclusive interview, Forshee told The U.S. Sun: “They are all going to need to align.
“This would be to ensure that Sabine is free to love both parents and have relationships with both of them.
“They are going to need to insulate her from any of their co-parent problems moving forward.”
Amy and TJ’s cheating scandal in 2022 resulted in them both being fired from GMA3 in January.
The couple navigated their respective divorces and career falls while publicly flaunting their new romance.
TJ and Amy were photographed together in New York, Miami, and Mexico.
Then on December 5. Page Six reported that TJ’s ex has been dating Amy’s ex-husband, actor Andrew Shue, for six months.
Forshee advised caution surrounding TJ and Amy’s decision to include Sabine in their Friday photo op.
“I would have recommended avoiding that kind of photo scenario for now,” she said.
“If this family had come to me with this dynamic and pitched the question surrounding a photo op, I would have said: ‘Your child is only 11 years old.’
“The parents would need to make the informed decision of what is in their best interest knowing this.
“No matter what their child says, my feedback would again be the same.
“From a developmental perspective, Sabine would not have the ability to comprehend the complexity of such a decision.
“What a child of this age does know is that they love both parents.”
Forshee suggested that in hindsight, Sabine may even have endured a “loyalty conflict.”
Her mom, lawyer Marilee, 46, had been married to TJ for 12 years.
“This would often be a scenario that creates discomfort for kids of that age, ” she said.
“It is really hard for them to know how to deal with the other parent seeing these kinds of photos as well.
“This becomes a really difficult situation for a kid of that age.
“I would not know what was going on in these photos, but an 11-year-old is at a stage where they are vulnerable to loyalty conflict.
“If Marilee would deal with it healthily, then Sabine and the photo op would not be at risk of further going down the trail of a loyalty conflict.
Forshee said Marilee might have felt uneasy about the photos of Sabine with Amy.
“If Marliee had an unhealthy response to that photo op, then the child will have to deal with the fallout of that,” she said.
“More generally, at 11 years old they would want nothing more than for their life to go back to normal.
“This would be where they do not have to feel like they have to think about these things or worry about these kinds of things.
“There is always some level of tension associated with that.
“A child of that age can not truly understand all of the nuances that come along with family dynamics.
“They would not know how to manage relationships with both parents in a high-conflict, or not-high-conflict situation.
“Here she is with both parents in a highly- publicized scenario.”
Amy and TJ’s first public red carpet as a couple came on December 1st in Los Angeles in the run-up to the launch of their tell-all podcast, Amy & TJ.
The show has already delved into their affair and its ramifications.
During the first episode, Amy claimed she had been “through a year of hell.”
She also said she had put herself in her daughter’s shoes.
“It’s one thing for us to deal with the press and the headlines and the paparazzi that have become as much a part of our lives as anything,” she said.
“When I’m with my children, with my daughters, they’re there and their pictures are being taken, I just try to put myself in their shoes.
“It’s their family and they’re so young. They don’t have the tools or the life experience to even really be able to put it in perspective.”
Forshee suggested TJ and Marilee appeared to have navigated discussions with Sabine fairly well.
“It looks like the affair was already addressed by one of the parents with Sabine,” the expert said.
“This would be in terms of taking accountability for there having been an affair and discussions of some healthy sort.
“[It] was an appropriate first step to be taken.
“This is specifically if it is a celebrity or if the information may get leaked out.
“Typically in cases where the parties are not celebrities, we do not recommend a child of that age to be informed the reason for the separation is an affair.
“But in this case, transparency is the best way to go.
“The parent can take accountability directly to the child so that was a healthy start to this situation.”
Forshee explained how Sabine’s age was critical in any positive outcomes.
“With 11-year-olds, how parents manage those conversations is more about the developmental and cognitive stage of that age,” she said.
“Every child has a different personality and temperament.
“Different experiences can impact the way that they deal with the parents being separated.
“My advice would be to make sure that they do whatever they can to ensure that Sabine feels free to love both parents.
“She must feel free to have relationships with both of her parents.
“With the photos, again, children at 11 might say, ‘I’m okay with that’, and go along with it.
“But the children are not.
“The adults are not thinking as in-depth about it as they need to.
“Their emotions are getting in the way of their judgment on how to manage that kind of scenario.”
