ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas Talks About Her Alcoholism

evargasLongtime ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas sat down with co-worker George Stephanopoulos to talk about her battle with alcoholism. Vargas, 51, stated that she started drinking heavily late in life in an attempt to deal with her anxiety and daily stress.

Despite what she said was her exhausting efforts to hide her problem, she revealed that her husband, singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, knew better. “You have a problem. You’re an alcoholic,” he told her, which she said made her “really angry, really angry. But he was right.”

It usually takes family members to say something and intervene on someone’s substance abuse problems. In this case, Vargas eventually agreed to get help and entered a treatment facility for several weeks last fall. She said she still continues with her recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Vargas claims that she is “learning to accept that I’m human, that there’s nothing wrong with failing, that there’s nothing wrong with feeling anxiety.”

When she took her leave of absence to get help, an ABC spokesperson stated, “We are proud of the steps Elizabeth has taken and are pulling for her recovery. We look forward to having her back home at ABC News, where she has done so much distinguished work over the years. Elizabeth is a member of our family, and we will support her in every way we can.”

Vargas seems to have a lot of understanding and support from her co-anchors as well, and she says she is now ready to get back to work. Hopefully, her courage to admit her problem, seek appropriate treatment and then share her story will prompt others to get help as well.