![]() ![]() “No sugarcoating it.” The self-doubt mixed with anger and fear came roaring in.īy 2009, Vargas said she felt her husband pulling away. “I felt like I was in a hurricane of life.”įour months later, she was replaced by senior anchor Charlie Gibson. ![]() Devastating to everybody who worked there,” Vargas said. 7, 2005, Vargas and ABC’s Bob Woodruff were named co-anchors of “World News Tonight.” But 27 days later, Woodruff was severely wounded by an IED in Iraq. She gave birth to their two sons and was caring for them while continuing to work – once even through a miscarriage.Īfter Peter Jennings died from complications of lung cancer on Aug. She said his words got her attention and for several years, she did control her drinking. “I remember he was angry when he said it, and grabbing my arm and saying, ‘You have a problem with alcohol,’ and that just made me really mad.” ![]() But even before they were married, Vargas said he noticed her drinking at night. She said he used to calm her by singing her to sleep. She finally found someone to confide in about her insecurities when she married Marc Cohn, best known for his song, “Walking in Memphis,” in 2002. “All my insecurities would sort of fade back.” “It was like, ‘I finally feel relaxed,’” Vargas said. ![]() Vargas said her drinking began after she got her first job and the news team would head out to the local bar after work. “And for better or for worse, I have recordings of myself on TV and audio recordings that remind me how bad it was.” “There’s a real temptation… to whitewash what you did, ‘It wasn’t as bad as everybody says,’ or ‘it wasn’t as bad as I remember,’” Vargas said. But when she was starting out, Vargas said she didn’t understand then that the disease of alcoholism could slowly take over and threaten her life. Studies show that nearly 63 percent of women in trouble with alcohol say they are also fighting anxiety. “Because I am basically so insecure and anxious and afraid I never, ever, in my life learned to reach out for help, ever,” Vargas said. Her struggle with that crushing insecurity continued when she started out as a local reporter out West. When she was little, she said she suffered from anxiety daily, even panic attacks, but she learned to hide them. Vargas grew up in a military family and moved to 14 homes, nine Army bases and eight schools as a child. There was one occasion, she said, when her blood alcohol level was at. Vargas, 54, who says she hit rock bottom two years ago, knows it’s an act of grace that she’s alive today. In the interview and in her new book, “Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction,” to be released on Tuesday, Vargas shares that she suffered repeated relapses, was almost fired from ABC News and that her marriage to singer-songwriter, Marc Cohn, ended in no small part because of her drinking. The veteran ABC News network anchor sat down with Diane Sawyer for a special edition of ABC News “20/20” to talk for the first time about her long struggle with alcoholism and anxiety, and her recovery process. But that’s just me romanticizing something that turned out to be really monstrous for me.” “But I look at them and I think, ‘I miss that.’ I miss that time when, you know, it felt so innocent and romantic. “I don’t look at them and think, ‘I want one,’” Vargas said. — - Today, when Elizabeth Vargas walks down the streets of New York City on a warm evening, passing wine bars filled with people enjoying glasses of wine, it’s a very different experience for her than it once was. ![]()
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