Elizabeth Vargas On Being An Alcoholic: ‘It’s Exhausting To Live Like That’

Elizabeth Vargas is returning to Good Morning America following her stint in rehab for alcoholism. In a pre-taped interview with George Stephanopoulos, Vargas admitted to viewers what has been suspected for a long time – that she has an issue with alcohol.

Vargas said in the interview: “I am. I am an alcoholic. It took me a long time to admit that to myself. It took me a long time to admit it to my family, but I am.”

Elizabeth Vargas explained that back in November of last year, she realized the time had come to get herself sorted out. After she left rehab, she sent the following Tweet to her friends: “Hello everyone! I am home, and so grateful for all your support and well wishes. I am so much better and taking it one day at a time.”

The realization came, she said, when she woke up one day and knew that she was “in no shape” to conduct an interview she was about to give. Soon after that, she reached out and, fortunately, got the right support at the right time.

She revealed that her drink of choice was wine, and that her son Zachary nicknamed it “mommy’s juice.”: “I should’ve realized it was a problem way back when Zachary, my oldest son, was born. And he used to call my nightly glass of wine ‘mommy’s juice.’ You know, and I thought that was hysterical. It didn’t occur to me that was a problem,” she shared.

Marc Cohn, Elizabeth Vargas’ husband, tried on numerous occasions to get the message across to her that she had a problem with alcohol: “‘You have a problem. You’re an alcoholic,'” she recalled him saying.

Vargas spoke about how she drank because she was stressed, admitting:

“That’s exhausting, to live like that. And it becomes very easy to think ‘I deserve this glass of wine. I’m so stressed out. I started thinking ‘Well, you know, I’ll only drink, you know, on weekends. I’ll only drink, you know, two glasses of wine a night. I won’t drink on nights before I have to get up and do Good Morning America.“

No doubt Elizabeth Vargas will share more details about her struggle with alcohol, and her time in rehab, following her return to 20/20 yesterday.