Because of his advanced age, American weather anchor Sam Champion chose to retire after years of service with Good Morning America (GMA). But fate had other plans for him, and he ended up in the same place, where he had a huge career break and a sizable paycheck.
The Paducah, Kentucky native worked for the ABC flagship station WABC-TV and GMA for 25 years.
GMA Sam Champion was paid a million dollars
Samuel James Champion was born on August 13, 1961. He began his career as an intern at WKYT-TV in Lexington, Kentucky. He began his career at Paducah’s WPSD-TV and Jacksonville’s WCWJ.
In 1988, Champion made a minor detour and joined WABC-Eyewitness TV’s News as a weather forecaster.
Similarly, in 2004, he joined Good Morning America and was paid $1.5 million per year. In April 2008, he made his debut as a host on Sea Rescue.
He joined ABC News in August 2006. His new job provided him with a salary that increased his net worth to $10 million (present).
Champion left ABC in December 2013 after seven years as a contributor to the network to join The Weather Channel as an on-air managing editor.
Retired? What is Sam Champion up to these days?
Following his departure from GMA, Champion launched his own morning show, America’s Morning Headquarters, in March 2014. However, he left AMHQ in September 2015 to contribute to the network’s prime-time programming.
Unfortunately, Champion’s contract with The Weather Channel was not renewed in December 2016, and he had to retire. Still, it was only a temporary situation because he had a new job to attend to.
Following Ginger Zee’s maternity leave, he returned to ABC in February 2018 as a fill-in weather forecaster and contributed to the weekend edition of Good Morning America.
Then, on May 22, 2019, he announced that he would be returning to WABC-newscasts TV and contributing to ABC News beginning in June 2019.
He makes a salary of $2 million each year, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
During a friend’s wedding, Champion came out as gay
During the wedding reception of Thomas Roberts and Patrick Abner in October 2012, Champion came out as gay.
In December 2012, Sam Champion and his husband Rubem Robeirb visited the Turks and Caicos Islands.
He and his graphic artist husband, Rubem Robierb, took to the dance floor and raved about how they had gotten engaged in October 2012. They met at a New Year’s party in Miami in 2011 through mutual friends.
The wedding of Champion and his Brazilian-American spouse didn’t take long. On December 12, 2012, they married in Champion’s New York City apartment.
Lara Spencer, Josh Elliot, and Robin Roberts were among the 100 guests that attended the wedding. Reception at the Icon South Beach, where Nicole Henry and producer Richard Ray-Alexander performed.
It had just been a year since the wedding when Champion admitted that he wanted to create a family with his husband.
In 2013, he told Wendy Williams on her self-titled show that he would love to have children if his hubby shared his desire. However, it appears that this has not yet occurred.
Nonetheless, Champion appears to be enjoying his married life with his hubby, as evidenced by his Instagram account. He routinely shares photos of himself and his husband on social media, revealing peeks inside their happy marriage.
