T.J. Holmes opens up about being seen as ‘a Black man beating up on' Amy Robach on podcast

T.J. Holmes is discussing the role that race plays in his relationship with former "GMA3" co-anchor Amy Robach.

While recording a candid conversation for their iHeartRadio podcast "Amy & T.J.," Holmes and Robach had an on-air argument. Holmes asked Robach to explain why he hesitated about releasing the episode earlier this week

"When you have someone crying, that creates a certain dynamic where people feel like they have to come to the rescue of me versus actually looking at it from a more balanced perspective," Robach said.

"I think, tears can appear to be manipulative — that wasn't my intention, but it could come off that way. And I just think the concern was it wouldn't be something that people could be objective about listening to," she continued.

More: T.J. Holmes needs to 'check out' during arguments with Amy Robach: 'I have to work through it'

Holmes responded by saying Robach was being "very careful" with her words during the explanation.

"I don't want to put this out because this is going to be, I fear, be viewed as a Black man beating up on a white woman. Now if anybody took their time and listened to that podcast, obviously I was not yelling, screaming, I wasn't doing anything,'' Holmes explained of his thought process.

"That would never have crossed my mind. Race, the fact that you're Black and I'm white would never have crossed my mind and that's kind of to your point," Robach said. "You have to think about things that I don't think about and honestly, it took me a second to actually get my head around it."

Holmes said that throughout his career, in boardrooms and newsrooms, he has experienced the awareness of racial dynamics before.

"I know that there's only so much bass I can put in my voice, I know there's only so much flailing of my hands I can do. There's only so much movement I can put in my body," Holmes said of his professional experiences with white women and colleagues.

After the original tense episode, the former "GMA3" co-anchors confirmed they are still together in a joint Instagram Reel posted Tuesday. The video followed the episode of their podcast, where the pair previously discussed their relationship issues.

"We just wanted to check in and let you know that, despite what you’ve been hearing, we are still together," Holmes, 46, said with a laugh as he walked while arm-in-arm with Robach, 50.

Contributing: Taijuan Moorman

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amy Robach, TJ Holmes discuss race in relationship on podcast