Elizabeth Vargas exemplifies every quality that a competent television journalist, anchor, and reporter ought to have: She presents herself as an intelligent, curious, knowledgeable source of information and a voice of reason.
She has been a trustworthy news source for close to 30 years, first on NBC newsmagazine shows, then as a co-host of ABC’s Good Morning America, and as an anchor of 20/20 and World News Tonight.
Her personality and skills have been beneficial. Vargas has stepped away from the daily news cycle in recent years to concentrate on long-form reporting for the AandE Network and anchoring Fox’s newly relaunched America’s Most Wanted public service program.
During her career as a journalist, Vargas has looked into, reported on, filed, and evaluated thousands of human interest stories. Behind the scenes, her story has been equally fascinating and occasionally terrifying as the tales she has told. Take a look at Elizabeth Vargas’ struggles below.
Even when there are no real risks of harm, illness, or death, dealing with extreme job stress and disappointment can be difficult for those who have to deal with it, especially if it involves celebrities.
NBC News programs like Now with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric and Dateline NBC gave Vargas a lot of exposure before she joined rival ABC News in 1996, according to Deadline. For the well-known morning program Good Morning America, Vargas was hired as a newsreader.
Vargas was succeeding on the morning program, and it was widely believed that she might replace Joan Lunden as the host of Good Morning America, according to HispanicMagazine.com. But it didn’t work out like that. “.
When Lunden asked Oprah, “Where are they now?” a year after leaving, she was told she was too old because she was 46. ABC News in favour of Lisa McRee also passed over Vargas.
Elizabeth Vargas was hired by ABC News to work on several primetime newsmagazine programs, including 20/20, and was designated a weekend news anchor on World News Tonight, according to Page Six. This came after she was fired from Good Morning America.
Regarding taking over ABC’s nightly news program, Vargas was essentially ready. The position was left vacant in 2005 after the passing of anchor Peter Jennings.
Four months later, ABC announced Vargas and co-anchor Bob Woodruff as Jennings’ replacements, according to the Associated Press. It was successful when ABC changed the squad’s makeup after about six months. NPR reports that Vargas revealed she was pregnant and would be taking maternity leave. Woodruff was forced to retire after suffering a severe injury while covering events in Iraq.
According to New York, Charles Gibson, a former Good Morning America coworker, allegedly forced Vargas out of her position.
He allegedly threatened to leave ABC if he didn’t get more money, a contract with more time left, and the job as the only anchor of World News Tonight. On May 23, 2006, ABC announced that Vargas “had chosen to stand aside” and Gibson would take over.
Even though there have been more and more rumours about what may or may not have occurred behind the scenes, Vargas told the Associated Press that she was not fired. She asserted that every woman has the right to make that choice for herself and her family without facing criticism.
At a young age, Elizabeth Vargas became addicted to alcohol. She allegedly changed her ways after being confronted by her spouse about her drinking. But by 2009, she had started drinking heavily again, sneaking into clubs, drinking two bottles of wine every night, and hiding alcohol all over the house.
Vargas recalls drinking “everything in it” from the hotel minibar while on a family vacation in 2012, which required IV rehydration. Vargas then began a month-long rehabilitation program, but left in the middle of it.
A few weeks later, Vargas relapsed, and to relax before a New York interview, he developed a drinking habit, according to ABC News. She recalls consuming alcohol both before and after the encounter, as well as getting into a car. A hospital was where she later woke up. “I have no idea what I did. Vargas admitted to the source, “I’m not sure what I ate.
A kind stranger had helped the journalist after she had ended up in a park. Vargas stated that after being released, the patient returned for another month of treatment. Vargas recalled, “She said she noticed several people nearby who she didn’t like the look of and who might have thought I was a weak person at the time. Her brothers and coworkers in the media came together after she relapsed in 2014 to assist her in enrolling in a rehab facility.
Elizabeth Vargas told ABC News that she first began drinking when she was a young journalist and would go out to a bar with friends at the end of the day. After years of severe anxiety and panic attacks, Vargas found that drinking gave her some momentary relief.
Vargas recalls feeling like she could at last, unwind. “Every one of my worries would vanish. Her father’s deployment to fight in the Vietnam War reportedly caused the TV journalist her first anxiety and panic attacks as a young child, according to her autobiography Between Breaths. She repressed her anxiety because she was ashamed of it rather than dealing with it.
On The View, Vargas admitted that as a teenager, she was “white-knuckling my way through.”. I was sick almost every day, she claims. She had problems as an adult and was prescribed beta blockers for her violent shivering and dizziness before newscasts. She sought assistance when her panic attacks became uncontrollable or challenging to hide while watching 20/20.
In the locker room during the 1999 U.S. Open, Marc Cohn, the author of the contemporary classic “Walking in Memphis,” dropped by. S. To his friend Andre Agassi, he is ready to greet him. Cohn won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. According to the New York Times, Cohn ran into Elizabeth Vargas there to set up an interview. They got along and married after three years; soon after that, they had two sons.
Sadly, Cohn’s 2014 divorce filing shows that the union did not last. After relapsing during her alcohol addiction treatment, which made things worse, Vargas had just recently returned from a drug and alcohol rehab facility.
While Vargas was receiving counselling, Cohn hired a lawyer and began the divorce process without her knowledge. Even worse, while his divorced wife was receiving treatment, Cohn started an affair with Ruth Zukerman, a co-founder of Flywheel, according to Page Six sources. Cohn said in a statement to the Daily Mail, “I have no comment regarding unpleasant rumors about a so-called “affair. “.
When he was on tour in August 2005, Marc Cohn, the ex-husband of Elizabeth Vargas, was shot in the head. According to the Denver Post, the band’s van was targeted by a carjacker, according to the Denver Post, during a stop in Denver. Thomas Dube, the van’s driver and tour manager, and Cohn both took minor injuries from gunfire that the shooter fired at the vehicle.
Dube and Cohn received treatment at a nearby hospital; Dube was soon released, while Cohn received the all-clear to go home after a few days of recovery. Speaking on behalf of the Denver Police Department, Sonny Jackson said, “Honestly, I can’t tell you how he lived.”. He was “the luckiest unlucky person they had met in a long, long time,” according to Cohn’s account of the doctors. “.
Despite his good fortune, he was emotionally scarred by the event.
During an interview with 20/20, Vargas said, “I think the thing I’ve learned is compassion to folks who have experiences like this going forward.”.
“I think my partner will still be dealing with the psychological effects of what happened long after the physical wounds have healed. Two years later, PTD has “gotten considerably better,” Cohn told the Seattle Times, adding that the condition “doesn’t entirely go away.
