George Stephanopoulos is the latest of the main co-anchors of Good Morning America to take a leave of absence from the morning news show ahead of the holidays.
The TV personality, 62, has been away from his regular desk for the past few days, with his chair being occupied instead by GMA Weekends anchor Whit Johnson. Meanwhile, Michael Strahan and Robin Roberts have remained present.
So where is George? He is, in fact, getting an early start to the holiday break by taking time off for a family vacation with his wife and two daughters.
George shares daughters Harper, 18, and Elliott, 21, with his wife of two decades, Ali Wentworth. Both Harper and Elliott are college students (Harper at Vanderbilt University, Elliott at Brown University) and are now home for the holidays.
Ali, 58, previously teased their return with a sweet photo from the family home with her former White House communications director husband, who held a bottle of champagne that was ready to be popped.
"Getting ready for our college girls to come home for the holidays. Need to squeeze and kiss them!" the mom-of-two sweetly wrote, and received a plethora of lovely messages from fans and followers.
© Instagram"It will be great when girls come for Xmas plays, dinners, and loving fun," one gushed, with another also saying: "It's the best when they get home! The hive will be busy for a bit. Make some plans for yourselves the week they go back though! It gets too quiet again real quick!"
And it looks like plans indeed have been made, as George revealed last week on Late Night with Seth Meyers that the family of four were taking a little vacation together to celebrate their homecoming.
LATEST: George Stephanopoulos pictured shirtless with pregnant wife Ali Wentworth in throwback beach photo
"It's gonna be great!" he gushed. "We're going to actually take a little vacation, but we'll be home for a week first."
© Getty ImagesIt was a tough blow for parents George and Ali to see their youngest leave the family home this fall, which the former reflected on during his interview.
"We were empty nesters for the first time," he said. "Our youngest just started college this September. It's been a change after 22 years because we met, got married, and had a kid, all within a year."
Seth asked the GMA host, who was there to promote his upcoming book The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis, whether it was difficult to find time off from the job, especially when breaking news or big stories hit, and George revealed that there had been times when that was the case.
"I did, there were times," he shared, adding: "One of the privileges of doing it for a longer period of time is you don't have to do Christmas duty anymore, you don't have to do Thanksgiving.
MORE: Inside GMA's George Stephanopoulos and Ali Wentworth's jaw-dropping $16m property portfolio – photos
"But if something big happens, yeah, you come back."
© ABCIt's not the first time in recent memory that one of the core anchors has taken time off the show. Michael was away for two weeks in early November due to a personal family matter, while Robin was away for a few days as well in September after tying the knot with now wife Amber Laign.
Get the lowdown on the biggest, hottest celebrity news, features, and profiles coming out of the U.S. Sign up to our HELLO! Hollywood newsletter and get them delivered straight to your inbox.
