Robin Roberts Reveals Partner Amber Laign's Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Good Morning America cohost Robin Roberts will be absent from the show from time to time while her partner, Amber Laign, undergoes treatment for cancer, Roberts announced Thursday.

"My sweet Amber wanted me to tell you something that she's been facing," Roberts said in a Twitter video. "At the end of last year, Amber was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had surgery last month and this morning will begin chemotherapy."

Laign's prognosis is good, Roberts said, going on to thank friends and family who kept the diagnosis private until Laign was ready to share it.

Roberts and Laign have been together nearly 17 years and have supported each other through a variety of challenges, including Roberts's struggle with breast cancer. She was diagnosed in 2007 and went through surgery and chemotherapy.

Then in 2012, Roberts faced a diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow disorder that interferes with production of blood cells, and she had to have a bone marrow transplant. She came out in 2013 in a Facebook post in which she expressed gratitude for her renewed health and her relationship with Laign.

"It's my turn now to be there for her like she was for me," Roberts said in the Thursday video. She told viewers that they are in her prayers and she hopes that she and Laign are in theirs.

Roberts is a popular morning anchor and is celebrated in the LGBTQ+ community for something that occurred even before she came out -- her 2012 interview with President Barack Obama in which he endorsed marriage equality. Since then she has often dealt with LGBTQ+ issues on the air.