Out in News: August 2007 Archives

Thomas Roberts, the former CNN Headline News anchor, has a new job: he debuts Sept. 10 as a correspondent for the syndicated show "The Insider" which runs as a time-slot companion to "Entertainment Tonight." It should be a high-profile gig for this openly gay broadcaster who will be more handsome than most of the movie stars he interviews.
Roberts left CNN less than two months after appearing on Anderson Cooper 360 where he discussed his sexual abuse by a priest from age 14 to 17. 34-year-old Roberts joined CNN in December 2001. His contract was to have run until February 2008.
At the time, he said he was leaving Atlanta to relocate to Washington D.C. to be with his partner.
It was nearly a year ago that Thomas Roberts spoke very publicly at the National Gay and Lesbian Journaists convention in Miami about being a gay man working as an anchor on CNN. He did so in a very small room packed with journalists - with computers - so accounts of the session were reported quickly. Roberts seemed so relaxed the whole weekend, laying out by the pool, chatting up new friends. He left the convention kind of a rock star because we were all so impressed with how he conducted himself and let's face it, we all thought he was REALLY hot.

The NLGJA convention is in San Diego this year and starts next week. I'll be there as part of my "vacation." I wish I could write that Roberts would be there speaking as an opnely gay CNN anchor but whatever the reason, his star did not continue to rise. Thomas was marginalized pretty quickly, losing his Headline News anchor spot during a "restructuring." I had done a brief interview with him in Miami and wanted to do an in-depth one for The Advocate but there was some weirdness going on that I hope will one day be explained. Roberts seemed to want to do it and we exchanged several e-mails but he had to let CNN's PR department handle the request and they put the kibosh on it.
Roberts has never spoke out against CNN or complained about its treatment of him. Maybe now, once he's settled into his new gig, we will find out what really happened once his sexuality became so public. Anderson Cooper, as we all know, remains the network's biggest star.
He never discusses his private life.