Elizabeth Vargas Biography
Elizabeth Vargas is an American television journalist who serves as the lead investigative reporter and documentary anchor for A&E Networks. She also hosted Fox’s revival of America’s Most Wanted in 2021. Vargas began her role at A&E on May 28, 2018, following a 14-year tenure at ABC News, where she was a prominent anchor on the newsmagazine 20/20 and fronted numerous ABC News specials.
In addition to her work with A&E, Vargas is a news anchor at NewsNation, where she hosts Elizabeth Vargas Reports, based in New York City.
Earlier in her career, Vargas served as co-anchor of World News Tonight in 2006, sharing the anchor desk with ABC News journalist Bob Woodruff.
Elizabeth Vargas Age
Vargas is 63 years old as of 2026. She was born Elizabeth Anne Vargas on 6 September 1962 in Paterson, New Jersey, United States.
Elizabeth Vargas Height and Weight
Vargas stands at a height of 5 feet and 9 inches (1.75 m) and Weighs 127 lbs (58 kgs).
Elizabeth Vargas Family
Vargas was born in Puerto Rico to an Italian-Spanish father, Rafael “Ralf” Vargas, a colonel in the United States Army, and an Irish-American mother, Anne Vargas, a part-time English teacher. Amy and Christopher, her two siblings, both work in technology in Silicon Valley.
Her father was a captain in the United States Army, and the family relocated to Okinawa when she was four years old. Vargas then spent the majority of her childhood moving from post to post in Germany, Belgium, and the United States. Vargas has stated that she identifies with her Hispanic roots despite her multi-ethnic heritage. She speaks English, Spanish, and French very well.
Elizabeth Vargas Education
Vargas attended an American high school in Heidelberg, where she discovered her love of journalism. Vargas enrolled at the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1980 and graduated in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism after working as a student reporter at KOMU-TV and a student editor at KBIA.
who was Elizabeth Vargas married to? / Husband
After three years of dating, Vargas married singer-songwriter, Marc Cohn, on July 20, 2002. Zach and Sam are their two sons. Vargas also has two stepchildren from Cohn’s first marriage, Max and Emily. Vargas and Cohn divorced after 12 years of marriage, according to Entertainment Tonight in August 2014.
Elizabeth Vargas Alcoholism
Vargas has spoken openly about her lifelong struggle with alcohol, which she traces back to anxiety rooted in her childhood. After her father left to serve in the Vietnam War, she began experiencing daily panic attacks. From an early age, she was encouraged to conceal her anxiety so as not to appear weak—a response that ultimately deepened both her anxiety and her reliance on alcohol. In 2012, during a family vacation, Vargas recognized that she needed help and sought treatment in Utah, though she left the program early and later relapsed.
On November 6, 2013, ABC News confirmed reports that Vargas had entered a treatment facility in Tennessee to address her alcoholism. “I am dealing with addiction,” she said at the time. She again left rehabilitation prematurely but soon realized the decision was a mistake and returned within a week to resume treatment for a third time. Shortly after completing the program and returning home, she and her husband, musician Marc Cohn, divorced.
On January 24, 2014, Vargas publicly identified herself as an alcoholic. In the years that followed, she chronicled her experiences in her memoir, Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction. Published by Grand Central Publishing on September 13, 2016, the book became an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller.
In 2018, NBC News reported that Vargas had remained sober since 2014.
Elizabeth Vargas The Untold Story
Vargas signed a first-look and production deal with A&E Originals in April 2018. Vargas would anchor A&E Investigates, the network’s new non-fiction prime-time journalism programming. Cults & Extreme Belief, her first A&E Investigates series, premiered on A&E in May 2018. The Untold Story, a documentary series about influential people and events, premiered in April 2019. Vargas was confirmed to host a revival of America’s Most Wanted on Fox in January 2021, with the show premiering on March 15, 2021.
Elizabeth Vargas Book
Vargas discussed her struggles with anxiety and alcoholism in a special episode of 20/20 that aired on September 9, 2016, as well as her book Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction, which discusses those struggles. She made an appearance on an episode of ABC’s Designated Survivor in October 2016.
Elizabeth Vargas Net Worth
Vargas has an estimated net worth of $30 million.
Elizabeth Vargas ABC Career
She joined ABC News’ Good Morning America in June 1996 as a newsreader and Joan Lunden’s likely “heir apparent.” In June 1997, ABC promoted Vargas to prime-time magazine show correspondent, with Kevin Newman taking over as newsreader. She became one of the anchors of 20/20 Downtown in 2002, which was later rebranded Downtown before being rebranded again as Primetime Monday before its demise in 2003. She later appeared on Primetime on occasion. She was also named World News Tonight anchor on Saturday and given the opportunity to create Primetime specials. Vargas took over as anchor of World News Tonight Sunday in November 2003. In May 2004, she was named co-anchor of 20/20.
Vargas was the first national evening news anchor of Puerto Rican and Irish-American ancestry, as well as the third female network evening news anchor in the United States since Connie Chung and Barbara Walters. She is said to be particularly proud of an ABC special report in which she questioned why the Laci Peterson case received more attention than two other similar cases involving black women and Hispanic women. Another story she wrote based on the book The Da Vinci Code and the role of Mary Magdalene sparked a national religious debate. According to Vargas, despite evidence to the contrary, the church has portrayed Mary Magdalene as a prostitute for centuries.
She went on to question women’s strictly limited role in the church. She won an Emmy Award in 1999 for her coverage of the Elián González story, and she was nominated in 1998 for her 20/20 investigation into Betty Tyson’s wrongful conviction. Vargas and Charles Gibson temporarily filled in for Peter Jennings on World News Tonight in April 2005, while he was undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer. Jennings died in August of that year. On December 5, 2005, she and Bob Woodruff were chosen as co-anchors after a period of mourning and indecision. After Bob Woodruff was injured in Iraq in January 2006, she anchored many broadcasts on her own.
In addition, she co-anchored World News Tonight with either Charles Gibson or Diane Sawyer. Vargas announced her resignation from World News Tonight on May 23, 2006. Gibson was then named the show’s sole anchor, beginning on May 29, 2006, replacing Vargas and Woodruff. Vargas explained the abrupt change by citing her doctors’ advice to drastically reduce her schedule due to a difficult pregnancy and her desire to spend more time with her new baby when he arrived. The majority of “inside accounts” said she fully expected and wished to return to the anchor chair soon after giving birth, but Gibson threatened to leave ABC News if he was not made the sole permanent anchor.
According to these sources, his gambit was successful, and she was left irritated, but not enough to cut ties with the network. Vargas returned as co-anchor of 20/20 and primary host of ABC News specials in late 2006. Vargas hosted “Elvis: Viva Las Vegas” in 2008, a television documentary that explored Elvis’ triumph in Las Vegas and his artistic legacy, and featured performances and interviews with various celebrities, including Paul McCartney, Beyoncé, Dwayne Johnson, Faith Hill, David Lynch, Jon Bon Jovi, Celine Dion, and Priscilla Presley.
Vargas received a Peabody Award in 2013 for her contributions to ABC News’ coverage of Hurricane Sandy on 20/20. Vargas announced her departure from ABC News in May 2018 on December 22, 2017. On May 25, she officially left ABC after a dedication on 20/20.
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