Multiple former employees say there is a “rampant culture of sex” at ABC News.
After ousted “GMA3” co-anchors T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach’s marriage- and career-torpedoing affair made headlines late last year, it was revealed that Holmes, 45, allegedly engaged in at least three other workplace romances, two of which were with junior staffers.
One of those, “Sascha,” spoke to the Cut anonymously for an exposé published Tuesday, confirming what a well-placed source implied in an interview with Page Six last month — that Holmes and Sascha, a then-associate producer in her mid-20s, would have sex in his office.
Our source described Holmes as being “in a position of power over her.”
But Sascha told the Cut she “didn’t even think about power dynamics” at the time because the network’s nightly program, on which she and Holmes both worked, “was a pretty scandalous place.”
Though she’d heard rumors that certain women had been promoted after having affairs with executives, she said she was left “heartbroken” and feeling like a “throwaway object” when Holmes — who had apparently shown a “crazy amount of interest” in her initially — left the overnight show to focus on “Good Morning America.”
Her feelings were amplified after news of his other alleged affairs broke.
“I was just part of a pattern,” she admitted to the outlet, adding that she “thought [she] was special.”
Additionally, Sascha claimed the executives are “more protective of the company’s reputation than they are [of] their staffers.”
Despite describing our Jan. 24 article — which did not identify her by name or photo — as “really upsetting to read” because it highlighted “the perspective of somebody who saw [her] being sort of confused” following a suspected romp in Holmes’ office, Sascha chose to ignore our numerous requests for comment.
Meanwhile, a former “GMA” staffer told the Cut that relationships like Holmes and Sascha’s were “very commonplace” in the 2010s and that it “felt like everybody was sleeping around.”
The former “GMA” staffer claimed the network “rewarded the people that were either divas or adulterers.”
“Ruth” — who left “GMA” in 2019 but is still an ABC News producer — added that “GMA” specifically seemed like it was staffed by “a bunch of horned-up high school students” who “learned how to do news in the ’80s when people were still doing blow in the bathroom.”
Ruth claimed she once reported to HR that an editor had called her “babe” while putting his hand on her bare thigh but said the company never took action because she “didn’t seem that mad” about it.
Since the culture of office relationships has apparently been “a pretty well-known problem for a long time,” Ruth believes Holmes is being used as a “sacrificial lamb.”
When “Julie” — a former ABC News employee — wasn’t advancing within the company, she told the Cut she recalled thinking, “What’s wrong with me? If I had slept with someone, would I have been more likely to have gotten one of these jobs?”
And “Alicia” — a former ABC News producer — admitted that it “never occurred” to her to tell HR when an older co-worker made an “inappropriate” pass at her because she thought, “This is just what happens, right?”
She added that after she began dating a seemingly different older co-worker, one executive “turned very, very sour on [her]” — but not on her male counterpart.
“I wasn’t mature enough to have the foresight not to screw around and put my career in jeopardy,” she said.
Reps for Holmes had no comment when contacted by Page Six, while a spokesperson for ABC News told us in a statement, “We do not condone or allow harassment or intimidation of any kind and take these matters very seriously and with immediacy.
“Creating a safe, respectful, and professional work environment for everyone has been, and continues to be, a top priority at ABC News.”
