Deborah Ann Roberts is an American TV journalist currently working for ABC TV network. She is known as one of the best American reporters and a person with great empathy.

Early life:

Deborah Ann Roberts was born on September 20, 1960 in a town called Perry in Georgia in USA. Her father Benjamin Roberts was a businessman and her mother Ruth was a housewife. She was very close to her parents and they always gave her support in her career and in private life.

She has only one sister called Tina and they were unseperable until college which led them to different paths.

After finishing high school she enrolled the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism which is a part of the University of Georgian in the city of Athens in Georgia. She got her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 1982. During her studies she was involved in many college seminars but also in all humanitarian work.

Ten years later the same University gave her a Distinguished Alumnus Award because of her great success as a journalist in a such short period of time.

Career development:

The same year she graduated she began working on WTVM, which is a local TV station in Columbus.

Longing for bigger career challenges she moved to WBIR in Knoxville in Tennessee very soon. There she had a little more freedom to do stories she can choose herself.

For three years (1987 – 1990) she was a field reporter and co-anchor in a local TV station in Florida called WFTV. She became very popular because of her radiating energy and a big empathy for people involved in her stories

In 1990 she accepted the offer of NBC Network and became a member of their NBC News crew. She also worked as correspondent of the same network. This was a huge step forward for her because NBC is one of the biggest networks in America and it offered her a large amount of independence and financing for her cover stories.

In 1995 she decided to relocate to ABC Network. She became a crew member of „20/20“ newsmagazine. She also hosted the morning news program called „Good Morning America“.

In 2006 she was a co-host on „The View“, an ABC talk show. She is still a host on Lifetime TV.

In 2016 she published a book called „Been There, Done That: Family Wisdom for Modern Times“.The book was co-written by her husband Al Raker.

The book was very personal and she wrote about how he couldn’t cope with the death of her childhood best friend and the death of her father with whom she was so close.

She wrote about the difficulties which she encountered while being a working mum.

Deborah is very known reporter who is not afraid to travel around the world, not even in the dangerous areas.

She made stories in Bangladesh (about maternal health) and in Africa (about AIDS). She often emphasizes how this travels opened her eyes and made her aware of how blessed she is because she is living in a modern and free country where she can make her own decisions about herself.

She won an Emmy award for an emotional report concerning a woman who is trying to find her birth mother. It was a story about an American woman trying to find her mother from Africa.

She got the same award for covering President’s Obama’s inauguration. She is a great supporter of Barack and Michelle Obama.

She was awarded with a Clarian Award for her story about the Amish and about the secrets which are kept in such closed comunities. In this case it was the secret abuse amongst the Amish.

She was reporting from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War. She has never ran away from a good story although it was dangerous and intense.

Another Emmy award was given to her for her coverage of 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona in Spain. This was one of her biggest successes and one of her most viewed coverages.

She was the first journalist to interview Celine Dion after her husband Rene died. That means that Celine has chose her for that job because she knew Amanda will be a great proffessional.

Personal life:

Deborah and her husband Al live in Manhattan and they have two children: a son and a daughter. Al has one daughter from his ex-marriage so Deborah has a step daughter.

They got married in 1995 after years of dating.

Leila was born in 1998 and Nicholas was born in 2002.

Al’s daughter from his first marriage is called Courtney. He was married to Aliee Bell for 10 years.

Her husband Al is the NBC weatherman and a very popular TV personality.

Her daughter’s name is Leila Ruth and her son is Nicholas Albert.

Deborah Ann has a sister called Tina Clarington and they are still as tight as they were as kids.

Her husband Al struggled with weight from his early age and eventually went to gastric bypass surgery. He wrote a book about it: „Never goin’ Back“ in 2013. This period of life was extremely demanding for them and Deborah was a huge support to her husband in his battle with weight. Since she was always a sports type she was happy to see him decide to turn his life around because she was scared for his health.

Quick summary

Full name:  Deborah Ann Roberts

Date of birth: September 20, 1960

Birthplace: Perry, Georgia, USA

Age: 57

Profession: reporter, journalist

Height: NA

Weight: NA

Net Worth: $3 million