Robin Roberts is ready to get real. The veteran TV journalist is hosting her own new talk series, and she's getting candid with celeb guests about everything from coming out for the first time publicly to being by her mom's side when she passed away.
Roberts recently spoke with ET's Lauren Zima and she opened up about hosting the new series, Turning the Tables, and how her mom would have felt about the open and honest interviews that the series will showcase.
"My mom loved conversation. She loved having people at the house," Roberts shared, as she got a bit choked up reflecting on her mother and her life. "I would come home from school and there would be people in our living room and she was holding court and was having community, and I think she would be very pleased with how we went about [this show]. It's very similar."
Roberts' mother, Lucimarian Roberts, died on Aug. 30, 2012, at the age of 88. Roberts and her sister, Sally-Ann, were with their mom at her home in Gulfport, Mississippi, when she died.
"I think she'd be cheering me on from her heavenly balcony, that's what I think," Roberts added with a smile.
Turning the Tables features Roberts opening up and delving into some emotional topics with an impressive slate of celebrities including Jenna Dewan, Jamie Lee Curtin, Debbie Allen and Billie Jean King during the four-part Disney+ streaming series.
"We wanted it to be multigenerational. We wanted women to see that we can all learn from one another," Roberts shared. "It's just me with some incredible women and hoping that something that we're saying can make you feel like you're not alone."
This means Roberts herself is letting down her guard a bit and opening up in a way that many fans have never seen before.
"It's kind of like the weekend version of Robin," she explained. "It's not the Robin behind the desk at GMA."
In her interview with Dewan, which ET got an exclusive look at, Roberts talks with the World of Dance host about her work on the reality competition series, and the mother of two explains how the opportunity came up at a very difficult time.
"I had never hosted anything in my life... and Jennifer Lopez calls me and says, 'I think you should host a show, we're starting in two days,'" Dewan recalls. "I had just separated in my relationship, and no one knew it. But I was dealing with that, and then had to go the next day... it was literally the next day."
Check out the full conversation when Turning the Tables With Robin Roberts premieres July 28 on Disney+.
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