Out anchor Sam Champion says he had a
falling out with his father over his sexual orientation.
Champion, who first publicly discussed his
sexual orientation 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.
In an OWN TV Oprah: Where Are They
Now? interview, Champion said his father, James Champion,
initially rejected him after he came out gay.
“I had been openly gay since I was at
Channel 7,” Champion said. “I just never took it on as a topic.
I never sat down and talked to someone about it.”
“My dad was not as supportive [as
other family members].”
“I remember him saying to me, 'I
cannot support this lazy lifestyle choice,'” he said. “I'm like,
'You're the smartest guy I know. You sound so incredibly dumb right
now. You knew I was different from the time I was a kid. I was just
different. I would not choose this. I would not. So when you
figure it out, you let me know.'”
Before James Champion passed away in
2010, father and son reconciled.
“I remember standing on the back deck
of their house in Texas, and he reached out and touched me and he
said, 'I'm so proud of the man that you became,'" an emotional
Champion said. “That's my favorite minute with my dad.” (The
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