Ginger Zee has been a staple on Good Morning America over the years – so fans of the meteorologist will no doubt feel her absence after she announced she is temporarily stepping away from the show.
The 42-year-old is taking a well-earned break from her duties next week and decided to give her followers a head's up after she revealed that the last time she took a hiatus from the morning show, it caused a big reaction.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Ginger said she was looking forward to her upcoming vacation and break from social media, tweeting: "Really looking forward to some time away next week."
She added: "As a heads-up, last time I took a few days off everyone thought I died or left abc etc... I am just going to take vacation and time off social. Thank goodness."
Her followers appeared grateful for the advanced warning and wished Ginger an enjoyable vacation with her husband, Ben Aaron, and their two children, sons Adrian, seven, and Miles, five. "I hope you get to have some fun with the family," replied one.
A second said: "With the way you travel to different locations, and how hard you always work, that is a such a well-deserved vacation for you and your family, Ginger!" A third added: "Digitally disconnecting, especially from social, is key to REAL time off! Enjoy!" A fourth wrote: "Enjoy your time off. Get in some good relaxation."
Following her announcement, Ginger took to Instagram to share some of her daily mantras with her followers alongside a somber photo. She penned: "We don't have to smile everyday all day.
"Repeating all my mantras the last 24 hours. This won't matter a year from now. Gratitude is the attitude. Keep doing my best as I always do. The sunshine and smiles will be back. This is how we grow. Just saying it for anyone else who needs to hear it."
Her time away from GMA comes after she detailed her harrowing mental health journey in a brutally honest interview. Ginger featured on a recent episode of the Quite Frankly podcast, where she opened up about how being diagnosed with depression at age 21 and how suffering from an eating disorder had an impact on her mental health.
The TV star's poor mental health led to her checking herself into a hospital just 10 days before she landed her job on GMA. "Ten days before everybody saw me take this dream job of national television, I checked myself into the Columbia psych ward," she said.
"At least we're getting to a point where we can talk about it. I went to the hospital because I needed to go to the hospital. I needed help. I should've done it 10 years before."
She added: "What the inpatient situation does for you, it's not fun. It's so scary. At first, I was looking around like, 'I don't need to be here.' But they assess you and they were not going to let me leave until I was not unsafe. I really needed help. They really deemed me unsafe, that's how bad it was."