Elizabeth Vargas Alcoholism: Journalist Shares Struggles With Addiction To Help Others

Back in November of 2013, we were all shocked when ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas submitted herself into rehab due to problems with alcohol. “Like so many people, I am dealing with addiction,” she said in a statement at the time. “I realized I was becoming increasingly dependent on alcohol. I am in treatment and am so thankful for the love and support of my family, friends and colleagues at ABC News.”

Now, Vargas has decided to open up about her “deeply personal” struggles with addiction by writing her own book, because she says reading other people’s stories made her feel other people's books, and they helped me enormously. It's very scary to put it out there, but if I can help one person feel less alone, then I'm really happy about that,” she told People magazine.

Her book titled “Between Breaths A Memoir of Anxiety and Addiction,” will come out next September. Vargas said the process of writing the book was “partially therapeutic,” at times liberating, but that it definitely had its really painful moments. “This was about admitting what I did, what I suffered with, and how I overcame it,” she says.

When Vargas says it was “liberating,” perhaps she was referring to what keeping it secret meant for her at the time, and how she says “denial is huge for any alcoholic, especially for a functioning alcoholic.” “The amount of energy I expended keeping that secret and keeping this problem hidden from view was exhausting,” Vargas added. “Even to admit it to myself was admitting, I thought, that I was a failure.” She was later asked if anyone knew about her issues with alcohol, and she revealed that her husband, Marc Cohn did. He told her that she had a problem and she was an alcoholic, and it made her “really angry.” “But he was right,” she admitted.