Elizabeth Vargas has spent decades reporting the news for TV audiences.
After starting on network broadcasts, she's recently favored long-form journalism for the A&E
Network, as well as hosting the new America's Most Wanted reboot for Fox.
Behind the scenes, her life has been just as newsworthy.
After gaining national exposure in the early '90s on NBC, Vargas joined the competition,
ABC News, in '96, landing the position of newsreader on Good Morning America.
Vargas was on an upward trajectory at the morning show, and as Hispanic Magazine noted,
"[There was a] widely circulated rumor […] that she would replace
Joan Lunden as Good Morning America host."
But that never happened. Having already endured a media blitz that teased a Lunden
versus Vargas showdown, just a year later Lunden left the show herself,
telling Oprah that the understanding was that at 46, she was too old.
"They, you know, found a 30-year-old version of me."
ABC News then passed over Vargas again in favor of Lisa McRee — who is a year older than Vargas.
ABC News may have dropped Vargas from Good Morning America, but the network kept her
working in primetime for 20/20, and named her a weekend news anchor on World News Tonight.
That put Vargas virtually one step away from taking over ABC's nightly
news broadcast. And the job tragically opened up in 2005, when anchor Peter Jennings died.
As the AP reported, ABC named Vargas as Jennings' successor, along with co-anchor Bob Woodruff.
The duo lasted about six months before Woodruff had to bow out after suffering
a near-fatal injury while on assignment in Iraq, and Vargas was set for maternity leave.
But as New York Magazine reported, Vargas was ultimately forced out by her former Good
Morning America colleague, Charles Gibson. He allegedly threatened to leave ABC entirely if
he didn't get a better contract and the sole anchor spot on World News Tonight. In 2006,
ABC announced Gibson would take the helm and that Vargas had, quote, "chosen to step down."
"I was demoted. No sugar-coating it. That's what happened."
As speculation raged on, Vargas insisted to the AP that she wasn't ousted, claiming,
"Every woman has the right to make that decision for herself
and her family without anybody judging it."
At the 1999 U.S. Open, singer-songwriter Marc Cohn — the Grammy winner responsible for the hit
"Walking in Memphis" — popped into the locker room to say hello to his friend Andre Agassi.
That's where Cohn met Vargas, who was hoping to score an interview, according to the New York
Times. They hit it off, and three years later, they got married and soon had two sons together.
But the couple wasn't meant to be for the long haul, with Cohn filing for divorce in 2014,
according to People. To make matters worse, Vargas had just returned home from a stint in rehab after
suffering a relapse in her recovery from alcohol addiction. While she was seeking treatment,
Cohn had secured an attorney and started the divorce process, without his wife's knowledge.
Plus, according to sources for Page Six, Cohn reportedly engaged in an affair with Flywheel
co-founder Ruth Zukerman while Vargas was in rehab. Cohn made no comment on the allegations.
Vargas told ABC News that she started drinking when she was just beginning her journalism
career. She discovered that alcohol provided temporary relief for her
extreme anxiety and panic attacks. She said,
"It was like, 'I finally feel relaxed.' All my insecurities would sort of fade back."
The TV journalist wrote in her memoir, Between Breaths,
that she first started suffering from anxiety as a child, enduring daily panic attacks after
her father deployed as a soldier in the Vietnam War. She said on The View,
"By the time I was an adolescent,
I was white-knuckling my way through. I felt nauseous almost every day."
The issues continued into adulthood, and the symptoms would so severely
impact her before news broadcasts that she was prescribed beta blockers.
She sought help during her tenure on 20/20 when she could no longer manage her panic attacks.
"The only thing that will make you feel better is more alcohol. That's when people die."
Early in adulthood, Vargas developed an addiction to alcohol. According to ABC News, her husband
confronted her about her drinking and she cut back, but by 2009, she was drinking heavily again,
secretly visiting bars, downing two bottles of wine a night, and hiding alcohol around the house.
On a 2012 family vacation, Vargas recalled drinking the contents of an
entire hotel minibar and then needing IV rehydration to recover.
Afterward, Vargas enrolled in a month-long rehab program but left halfway through.
According to ABC News, a few weeks later, Vargas relapsed, once again using alcohol to relax
before an interview in New York. She remembers drinking on the way to and after the meeting,
and getting into a car. And then she woke up in the hospital. She admitted to the outlet,
"I don't know what I did. I don't know what I drank."
The journalist later learned that she had wandered to a park where a good Samaritan offered her help.
After her release, Vargas returned to rehab.
When she relapsed again in 2014, her colleagues and her siblings converged
to help her enter a detox center. She's been sober ever since. She told Yahoo in 2020,
"I never felt more alone in my entire life than I did while I was struggling with
alcohol. […] I feel very strongly about the need to reduce stigma and to help people get help."
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse and mental health,
please contact SAMHSA's 24-hour National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).