This Oct. 8, 2013 photo shows ABC News anchor Elizabeth Vargas in New York. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Charles Sykes/Invision
January 24, 2014 - 6:29 AM
NEW YORK, N.Y. - ABC News reporter Elizabeth Vargas is publicly acknowledging that she's an alcoholic, and says it took her years to admit it.
In an interview aired Friday on "Good Morning America," Vargas said hiding it from others left her "exhausted." Her go-to drink was wine which, increasingly during her adulthood, she used to manage her anxiety and stress.
She said she had suffered panic attacks since she was a child.
Last fall, Vargas spent several weeks in a treatment facility and is now in Alcoholics Anonymous. She told "GMA" co-anchor George Stephanopoulos she's "proud" of confronting her problem.
She said she's ready to resume her duties Friday as co-anchor of "20/20."
Vargas has worked in network news since 1993, first with NBC and then ABC, which she joined in 1996.
News from © The Associated Press, 2014