In 2013, Elizabeth Vargas was one of the most successful journalists working at ABC News. In addition to appearing frequently on Good Morning America, Vargas covered major breaking news events like 9/11, the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, and the death of Muhammad Ali. 

But behind her seemingly perfect professional exterior, Vargas was hiding a secret. Like millions of women in the US, Vargas was engaged in a toxic battle with alcohol addiction. 

When Katie decided to tackle the topic of women and their relationship to alcohol for a special Next Question episode, she thought, who better to co-host than Vargas?

Ever since childhood, Vargas has dealt with extreme anxiety, and for years she self-medicated with alcohol. She tells Katie: “I kept it very, very hidden, in a similar way to how I kept my anxiety hidden. I was self-medicating. I was in denial because I thought, I can’t be an alcoholic. I’m not homeless, I’m not jobless, I’m a mother, I’m a wife, I’m a network news anchor. I’m all these things. Therefore I cannot be an alcoholic.” 

Even after blacking out and ending up in the emergency room, Vargas still had difficulty admitting she had a problem. In 2012 she was admitted to rehab for the first time, but left early and eventually relapsed. During a second stint in rehab in 2013, her disease became public when ABC News had to confirm a New York Daily News piece claiming that Vargas was undergoing treatment for alcoholism. 

Vargas, who is now sober, is on a mission to end the stigma that so many women feel about alcoholism. “Stigma is the singular most important reason people do not seek help…They’re afraid of the consequences. That they will suffer in their personal and professional lives by making that admission. I was outed when I was in rehab. It was a deeply painful experience for me. It was excruciating.”  

Although Vargas is grateful for her time in rehab, she tells Katie, “It wasn’t rehab that finally got me to stay to get sober. It was me quietly deciding, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t lie anymore. I can’t hide this anymore. And I don’t want to. That’s the key. There’s gotta be another option here.” 

After committing to her sobriety, Vargas wrote a book titled Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction. Her intention is to help women in her position feel less alone. She tells Katie: “I deeply believe that talking openly is the best way we can chip away at the stigma and the shame. I have never felt as lonely in my entire life as I did when I was struggling with alcohol because I was too afraid to tell anybody what was going on. That’s why I wrote my book; so that people can hear another person’s story. Books by women talking about their struggles with alcohol and why they drank really helped me realize that I’m not alone.” 

As Katie continues her series on women and alcohol, she hopes to help women struggling with addiction understand that there is no shame in seeking help. As Vargas says, “The more we talk about this, the better chance we have of helping people heal.”

Listen to the podcast episode below.