Amy Robach remembers the July 4th lightning strike that struck her parents and uncle

Amy Robach has a deep dislike for the Fourth of July – a dislike that stems from personal trauma.

The former “Good Morning America” ​​host discussed holiday traditions with her former co-host TJ Holmes and her boyfriend on an episode of the podcast “Amy and TJ,” and admitted that she has a “Debbie Downer” story to tell.

She said her parents were hospitalized and her uncle died after being struck by lightning during an Independence Day gathering in a park.

“The Fourth of July was a game changer for us,” she said on the podcast this week. “My mother and father were seriously injured. They were in the hospital for weeks.”

“Their tennis shoes were blown off their feet,” she continued. “They had to have their clothes cut off. My father had to be given CPR and my Uncle Jack eventually died. He was standing by the tree that was hit. … He just collapsed.”

Robach, who was 14 at the time and living in Georgia, has of course avoided the holiday ever since.

“Lightning is deadly, and the Fourth of July is one of those holidays where everyone is out and about and there are often thunderstorms,” ​​Robach told Holmes. “After that, everything changed at home. I got into the habit of traveling around the Fourth of July.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 40 million lightning strikes occur in the United States each year. While the odds of being struck are less than one in a million—and 90% of victims survive—444 Americans died between 2006 and 2021.

Robach, for her part, hasn’t participated in Independence Day traditions in a long time, although she and Robach may have plans this year. She said she never expected to talk about the incident on the show.

“I haven’t been in the country on the Fourth of July in many, many years,” she said Wednesday.

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