ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas' exit rasies questions

Late last week, pregnant ABC World News Tonight co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas, 43, announced that she would be stepping down from the anchor desk to focus on her family, which includes son Zachary, 3, and a second son on the way this August. It’s been an overwhelming year for Elizabeth – her husband Marc Cohn was shot in the head during an attempted carjacking, she and her co-host Bob Woodruff succeeded Peter Jennings at World News Tonight, only to have Bob be seriously injured in Iraq a few weeks later, leaving Elizabeth to man the desk alone while dealing with the surprise news of this pregnancy, which Elizabeth admits was unplanned.

The announcement of Elizabeth’s exit leaves many people asking questions, as this article points out. Was Elizabeth replaced, or did she leave of her own accord? Says one reader, "I can’t believe that a woman who’s worked so hard to get where she is would just resign like that…I think they pushed her out." However, Elizabeth says, "Every woman has the right to make [the decision to work or not] for herself and her family without anybody judging it."

Either way, moms in the article seem to support her decision – saying they realize how hard it is to balance work and motherhood. "Whether it was her choice [to leave] or not, she certainly speaks the truth – it’s HARD to make it work," says Geneva Overholser. The message to take from the Vargas story, says Overholser, is that while some women manage to combine work and parenthood well, "we mustn’t ever think it’s easy. And yet, we must never think it’s impossible."

Elizabeth will be back on ABC next winter, co-anchoring 20/20 when she returns from her maternity leave.

Source: AOL News For an interesting mom to mom chat on the situation, check out Rachel’s post regarding this issue at Blogging Baby.

Thanks to CBB reader Toni.

Comments

Not only has Elizabeth’s professional life been rocked in the past year (Jennings illness & death, Woodruff’s injury while in Iraq, and Elizabeth herself having to take over anchor while pregnant) but also wasn’t her personal life rocked a bit too?

I remember hearing/reading how her husband was shot in the head during a botched robbery at least 6-9 months ago. That couldn’t have helped Elizabeth’s life either.

- Autumn on June 5th, 2006

Ohh, yes, I should add that in. He was carjacked I believe.

- Sarah CBB Editor on June 5th, 2006

Lots of people can’t understand now she couldn’t have worked so hard to get to where she got and then give it up, but women do it all the time. They prioritize and make the best decision for her family. If this was the case, I applaude Elizabeth for putting her family first.

- Nixon on June 5th, 2006

Although I admire the fact that she is willing to put her career on hold for her family, I am a bit fed up that it is only the mothers that are willing to make such sacrifices for their family. The onset of the Hollywood Baby Boom seems to have no effect on the fathers and their willingness to put their family first. The only father I have heard of that is willing to slow down is Heath Ledger, and for that he gets my respect.

- Decrescendo on June 5th, 2006

I agree with Decresendo, why do men almost NEVER talk about how hard it is to “balance” work and family.

Oh, that’s right, raising children is women’s domain, getting credit for being such WONDERFUL parents are the fathers.

Maybe some women ought to learn to stop jealously putting down other women’s choices and start taking a VERY HARD look at the men they married. Gee, ladies, he doesn’t look like Father of the Year to me.

- Basher on November 19th, 2007