Al Roker is still on the mend following his knee surgery earlier this month, with his wife, ABC News Senior National Affairs correspondent Deborah Roberts, providing fans an update on Sunday (May 21) night.
In an Instagram Live post, Roberts thanked fans for their support and shared some insight into how her husband is doing. Roker, the long-time weather anchor on NBC’s Today, has had a series of medical issues in recent months, including blood clots in his lungs and leg last year which saw him miss several weeks of work.
“Thank you all so much for being so concerned about him and so interested in his well-being,” Roberts said. “As many of you know he had a knee re-replacement, so a knee that had been replaced many, many years ago had problems and had to be re-replaced. And it makes it slow-going. It makes it a little tougher.”
“It was a harder surgery,” she continued, “so it’s a little bit harder to snap back from, but he’s doing pretty well, moving a little slowly. In fact, he’s right here on the other side of me, but he’s not interested in getting involved today.”
“He wants to just say thank you to everybody who has asked about him,” she added. “Thank you all so much. You have all been so kind and so generous and just so caring and compassionate about my family over these last several months as we’ve gone through a few things.”
Roberts went on to say that Roker is “chomping at the bit to try to get back to work,” but he’s on doctor’s orders to rest so that he can continue to heal well. This means no more impromptu cooking streams; Roker posted an Instagram Live last week, which saw him in the kitchen cooking a Martha Stewart cod cake recipe.
“Some of you may have seen him cooking,” Roberts said. “I did not like that he’s been trying to do that because he needed to give himself some time and some rest and elevate his leg and ice it and all of that, so he’s doing all that.”
“He’s trying to obey the doctor’s orders so that he can get back to work and to play as soon as possible, so just wanted to give you a little update on him,” she concluded.