‘GMA’ sources say T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach always had ‘obvious chemistry’ but are ‘annoyed’ by bombshell article exposing relationship

“GMA3” co-hosts T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach were spotted on a trip together earlier this week.
The two are married to other people, leading some to speculate that they were in a relationship.
A source close to the show told Insider that the “chemistry” between the two was “very obvious.”

“Good Morning America 3: What You Need to Know” co-hosts T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach made headlines this week when they were photographed on what appeared to be a romantic trip together, despite being married to other people. A source close to the show told Insider that the “chemistry” between the two was “very obvious.”

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison — here’s what we know about her partner, Billy Evans, who was a fixture of her months-long trial

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of infamous blood-testing startup Theranos, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison last week.
The development follows Holmes’ four-month trial last year. She was joined by her partner, William “Billy” Evans, in court everyday.
The couple share a child and have another on the way, and Evans was central to one of Holmes’ last-ditch efforts to avoid prison time. Here’s what we know about him, including how he met Holmes and his initial hesitation about dating her.
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More than four years after charges were brought against her for defrauding investors and patients at her blood-testing startup, Elizabeth Holmes has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison.

In federal court last week, the Theranos founder was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison with three years of supervised release. She will report to prison on April 27, 2023. This follows a four-month trial in which Holmes was convicted in January on three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.

Throughout the trial, crowds of paparazzi, curious spectators, and even fans of Holmes gathered outside the San Jose courthouse to watch her arrive at court. During this time, these onlookers also saw a lesser-known figure by Holmes’ side everyday: William “Billy” Evans.

Evans, heir to chain of hotels in California, is Holmes’ partner, with whom she shares one child born last year and another on the way.

Not much is known about their relationship, but Holmes’ trial has recently revealed more information about the couple, including the story of how they met, and Evans’ initial hesitation about a relationship with Holmes.

Here’s everything we know so far about Billy Evans, Elizabeth Holmes’ partner:

William “Billy” Evans grew up near San Diego, California. He’s one of three children born to his parents, Susan and William L. Evans.

The Evans family has lived in the San Diego area for generations. Billy Evans’ grandparents, Anne and William D. Evans, founded a hotel management group in 1953 called Evans Hotels. The group manages three properties in the San Diego area.

After William D. Evans died in 1984, his widow, Anne, added two of her children to the Evans Hotels management team, including William L. Evans, who is Billy Evans’ father.

Billy Evans attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. During summers between school, Evans worked at various financial and consulting companies in California, according to his LinkedIn. He was also a student brand manager at Red Bull while at MIT.

While at MIT, Evans studied abroad in China on a full scholarship, his LinkedIn says. He studied Chinese language and literature at Fudan University in Shanghai.

After graduating from MIT, Evans reportedly tried to launch a healthcare startup for transporting wealthy Chinese people to the US for “concierge medical attention.” Although he studied Chinese in college, Evans wasn’t fluent in the language, and the idea never took off.

After that startup idea failed, Evans worked at LinkedIn as a strategy and analytics leadership program analyst. He worked there until February 2017.

Evans then moved to Luminar Technologies, a startup working on radar and sensor technology for autonomous cars. His LinkedIn says he was a manager of special projects, but employees told the Post he was fond of “wandering around with absolute purpose, but no one knew what that purpose was.”

Evans was reportedly close with Luminar’s CEO, Austin Russell. He acted as Russell’s “secret police” who would “strut around the office and tell people what to do,” the New York Post reports.

Holmes and Evans met in 2017, according to a letter Evans wrote.

Holmes’ attorneys recently filed 130 such letters from friends and family seeking leniency in her sentencing. In his, Evans talked about the couple’s story and his initial hesitation to pursue a relationship with Holmes; confirmed speculation that she’s pregnant with their second child; and gave a glimpse into their private lives throughout the trial as he made his plea for a lighter sentence.

Evans is 30 years old — eight years younger than the 38-year-old Holmes.

Evans opened his letter recalling how he and Holmes met, at a Fleet Week charity event hosted by a friend in the fall of 2017.

Evans wrote that he was going to thank the host before leaving, when the host introduced him to three people, one of whom was Holmes.

“The two of us immediately connected,” Evans wrote. “We walked away from the others, and it was as if the rest of the world ceased to exist.”

He said Holmes wore a sunhat and oversized glasses to try to “stay under the radar” and he didn’t initially recognize her as they spoke.

“It was strange to feel so comfortable and willing to share with someone who I didn’t know. I was captivated by her childish wonder and authenticity,” he added. “We spoke for hours, I lost track of time, and even if I didn’t know it…. I fell in love. She pulled out her business card, scribbled her personal cell on the back and then it clicked who she was.”

Evans said they remained “just friends” for six months, writing, “I was admittedly hesitant to dive in given all that had been said, Liz had been consistently vilified in every piece of media imaginable.”

“The more I got to know her the more I loved who she was,” he added. “It was not long before the friendship turned into something more.”

Evans’ letter also confirmed speculation that the pair are expecting another child, as he talked about her swimming the Golden Gate Bridge earlier this year while pregnant. He also shared other details about their personal lives in the letter.

Evans wrote that the couple’s husky, Balto, was taken from their front porch by a mountain lion and killed. His letter, and several others in the filing, also noted Holmes is a volunteer for a sexual assault crisis helpline, and Evans said she was recently “working on draft state legislation to help ensure victims of sexual violence and rape will be granted their survivors rights and receive the care they need.” Holmes had testified during her trial that she was raped in her sophomore year at Stanford and separately alleged that she was emotionally and sexually abused by Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, her ex-boyfriend and former right-hand man at Theranos.

Evans said he and Holmes don’t have privacy because of the trial and have moved multiple times after their home address was revealed. He added that their son has been “avoided by other families not wanting to expose their children to my family.”

“This will follow us for the rest of our lives,” he wrote. “There is no avoiding the scorn that accompanies Elizabeth Holmes.”

The two were first spotted in public together in August 2018 at Burning Man, the arts festival in the Nevada desert, just days before Theranos fully shut down.

Evans left his job at Luminar in January 2019. Luminar employees told the Post they suspect the reason was the potentially bad publicity surrounding Evans’ relationship with Holmes.

As recently as 2019, Holmes and Evans lived in a $5,395-a-month apartment in San Francisco, according to CNBC. The unit was located in the Russian Hill neighborhood near Lombard Street, the iconic crooked street and well-known tourist attraction.

Vanity Fair reported in February 2019 that Holmes and Evans had gotten engaged.

That June, Vanity Fair reported that Holmes and Evans had tied the knot in a secretive wedding ceremony.

Evans’ parents were reportedly “flabbergasted” at their son’s decision to marry Holmes, the Post reports.

Since then, Evans has been a fixture in Holmes’ trial, accompanying her to court daily and even forming the crux of one of her Hail Mary attempts to avoid prison.

After Holmes was convicted in January, she made several attempts to avoid prison time.

As the clock was running out with a scheduled sentencing date fast approaching, she requested a new trial on the grounds that a key government witness visited her home in August expressing regrets that his testimony had helped convict her.

The witness was Adam Rosendorff, who was Theranos’ lab director from April 2013 to November 2014. Holmes’ motion relied heavily on a recollection of the encounter documented by Evans, who spoke with Rosendorff when he appeared at their home.

In an email to Holmes’ attorneys recalling his encounter with Rosendorff, Evans wrote: “He said he feels guilty, it seemed like he was hurting. He said when he was called as a witness he tried to answer the questions honestly but that the prosecutors tried to make everybody look bad (in the company). He said that the government made things sound worse than they were when he was up on the stand during his testimony. He said he felt like he had done something wrong. And that this was weighing on him, He said he was having trouble sleeping.”

The judge agreed to postpone Holmes’ sentencing to hear Rosendorff out, giving Holmes a small victory, but it backfired on her when Rosendorff stood by his testimony in the hearing, saying, “She needs to pay her debt to society.”

Rosendorff explained that he’d felt bad for Holmes because of the possibility that her child, born last year, would grow up without a mother, but he stressed that his testimony was accurate.

Evans’ dad, William L. Evans, seen here in a black mask, even made headlines at Holmes’ trial one day.

NPR reported in September that a man who identified himself as a “concerned citizen” named Hanson defended Holmes to news reporters at her trial; in actuality, NPR reports, the man was the older Evans.

24/24 SLIDES

“I think a lot of people are shocked but not super surprised,” one source, who preferred to remain anonymous but whose identity and ties to “Good Morning America” were verified by Insider, said of the potential romance between Holmes and Robach.

According to the source, they had “suspicions” of the bond between the two during the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebration in early 2022. But per the source, the “confirmation” for these suspicions only came when the Daily Mail first published the photos of Holmes and Robach earlier this week.

“On set, off set, they were very much bonded,” the source added of Holmes’ friendship with Robach.

When asked by Insider how staffers at “GMA” were feeling after the Daily Mail’s article was published, multiple sources close to the morning news show told Insider that the newsroom was shocked.

One source said some people are waiting to see how “GMA” responds.

“People are a bit annoyed. They have an air of entitlement honestly,” the first source said of Holmes and Robach, adding: “People are kind of waiting for an explanation because we’re just as confused as the rest of the world.”

Representatives for ABC didn’t immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. A representative for “Good Morning America” declined to comment on the record.

Staffers at “GMA” have told other outlets, including People magazine, that they were “surprised” about the reported relationship. Still, one source pointed out that both anchors are reportedly separated from their spouses.

“This was two consenting adults who were each separated. They both broke up with their spouses in August within weeks of each other,” the source told People’s Stephanie Wenger and Joelle Goldstein. “The relationship didn’t start until after that.”

Holmes’ first marriage was to Amy Ferson, with whom he shares two children. He later married Marilee Fiebig Holmes in 2010, and the two share a daughter Sabine, whom they welcomed in 2013. Holmes and Fiebig reportedly separated earlier this year.

Robach married actor Andrew Shue in 2010 and has two children with ex-husband Tim McIntosh. Robach reportedly separated from Shue earlier this year as well, around the time that Holmes took a step back from his marriage.

Do you work for GMA and want to share your story? Email ltorres@insider.com.

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