In a recent TV Guide interview, Sam
Champion credited his sexual orientation and being overweight for
turning him into an overachiever.
Champion, who first discussed his
sexual orientation last year in announcing his engagement to his now
husband, photographer Rubem Robierb, late last year resigned from his
post as weather anchor of ABC's Good Morning America to head
America's Morning Headquarters with Sam Champion, a three-hour
weekday morning show on cabler the Weather Channel.
“I left GMA with one solid purpose,
and that was an opportunity to build something new from the ground up
in a place that is solely focused on weather,” the
52-year-old Champion said. “I need a project. I don't have a
hobby.”
“I discovered I overachieved because
I was fat, I was gay, and I was bullied as a kid,” Champion added.
“All my life I worked extra hard to have people see past what they
saw on the outside.”
“I like people, and I was a person
who really wanted to be liked,” he added. “That for me was a
driving desire.”
(Related: Sam
Champion on gay marriage: I don't understand the other side.)