Al Roker’s Wife Speaks out After His ‘Today’ Return

ABC News journalist Deborah Roberts offered some more insight into her husband Al Roker’s return to the Today Show on Jan. 6. Roker, 68, made his first appearance in Studio 1A in Rockefeller Center for the first time since early November when he was hospitalized for blood clots. Roberts, 62, joined Roker for the reunion with Today co-anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb.

“Friday finish! After a grueling and frightening health journey, my sweet [Roker] is back at work and slowly getting back to his life thanks to a brilliant medical team and the uplifting thoughts and prayers of so many of you,” Roberts wrote on Instagram Friday.”My family has learned the power of love, patience, and faith. Our [gratitude] is beyond measure.”

Roberts went on to thank ABC News and NBC News for putting aside their morning show rivalry for a day. “Morning show competition took a breather today as I visited him on set,” Roberts wrote. “Thanks [ABC News] and [NBC News] for showing us the spirit of true camaraderie and connection.”

NBC News and Today hosted a major welcoming ceremony for Roker, who was back at the studio for the first time since Nov. 4. He was hospitalized early that month, then released around Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with his family. However, he was rushed back to the hospital a second time after experiencing complications. He has been out of the hospital since Dec. 8 and was recovering from home.

“Look, I had two complicating things,” Roker explained on the show. “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.” After the surgery, Roker’s doctors found he had two bleeding ulcers, and they “had to resection the colon, had to take out my gallbladder, redo my duodenum.”

Roberts called her husband a “living breathing miracle” due to his recovery. “Al was a very, very, very sick man,” Roberts told viewers. “And I think most people did not know that. You all had a chance to know that. And Savannah’s tearing up, I’m going to be tearing up but how 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.”