Al Roker’s Wife Deborah Opens up About “Exhausting” Time as Caregiver to Her Husband | “My Faith Got Me Through It”

"I'm still mentally exhausted, but you know what, I'm grateful," she admitted.

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Noam Galai

By Shruti Menon

April 4, 2023

Posted April 4, 2023

Al Roker’s wife is opening up about the struggles of caring for a loved one during a health crisis. Deborah Roberts — the weatherman's wife of 27 years — recently spoke to Entertainment Tonight about Roker's hospitalization and recovery from a major 7-hour surgery. "I think a lot of people don't realize that — and I never realized that — that being a caregiver is really taxing, exhausting, frightening, all of those things and I never went through anything like this," she said honestly. "And I hope I'll never do it again." The 62-year-old ABC News journalist admitted that it's been tough and that she is "still kind of, I think, recuperating. I'm still kind of tired. I'm still mentally exhausted, but you know what, I'm grateful, and just trying to just bask in the moment and just be happy that he's well, and we're all well."

The contributing anchor for 20/20, even joked that she knows her husband, 68, is doing well because he's "back to driving me crazy." As to what helped her during her dark days she said it was "my faith, my spirituality got me through it," adding that "my family got me through it, my colleagues got me through it. Colleagues, many of whom are here today, lifted me up in times when I felt like I just couldn't make it. People were there and texting and emailing and calling, and that made all the difference."

Roker had no idea his condition was so serious when he first visited doctors in early November to address a few stomach aches, according to PEOPLE. "Look, I had two complicating things," he said on TODAY. "I had blood clots, which they think came up after I had COVID in September. And then I had this internal bleeding going on, I lost half my blood. They were trying to figure out where it was," he explained.

At the New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where Roker was receiving treatment, the medical team detected two bleeding ulcers after surgery. His colon was resected, his gallbladder was removed, and surgery was performed on his duodenum, which is a piece of the small intestine. "I went into for one operation, I got four free," joked Roker.

Deborah Roberts is opening up about what life's been like since Al Roker's health scares.https://t.co/QUCL1K8qRZ
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) March 30, 2023

His wife thanked his team of doctors for helping to save her husband. "Al was a very, very, very sick man ... most people didn't know that, " she said. "Two doctors led this brilliant team — it was a team — who had to figure out what was happening. He was a medical mystery for a couple of weeks. And it was the most tumultuous, frightening journey we have been on," she added.

Roker knew he couldn't have gotten through this terrifying journey without his wife by his side. "Thank god for Deborah," he said, adding, "She basically shielded me from all of this. I'm a living example of ignorance is bliss. I was able to put all my energy into recuperating because I didn't know how bad this was. I thought I was doing good!"

According to PEOPLE, as he looked at his wife he said, "Without you, I would not be here. There's no question about that. But here we are."