Elizabeth Vargas, ABC News anchor, revealed in a taped interview that aired on Friday morning's episode of Good Morning America that she spent the month of November in treatment for alcohol dependency. The 51-year-old checked herself into rehab after logging off 20/20 during the month of October, but officially returned to her position on 20/20 Friday evening. 

The Puerto Rican/Irish-American anchorwoman checked herself into rehab for 28 days after she showed up for a 20/20 shoot interview "in no shape to do that interview." She got out of her car, and thought to herself, "What am I doing?" and realized that she needed help.

"I am. I am an alcoholic," Vargas told GMA co-anchor George Stephanopoulos in the interview. "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."

The drinking dependence, which she referred to as a "staggering burden," was an exhausting secret that she was forced to keep hidden. Her choice of wine was a source of comfort, though her husband had long realized that she was in need of help.

"'You have a problem. You're an alcoholic,'" she recalled her husband, singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, telling her. "It made me really angry, really angry. But he was right."

Vargas experiences panic attack, and even faced attacks while on live television on the local news in Chicago, and they continued at ABC News when she was named co-anchor of ABC World News Tonight. The daily panic attacks, which Vargas suffered since childhood, played a role in her addiction.

"Anchoring the evening news, I had to take beta blockers because I was so nervous and so anxious," she said. "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 and I'm keeping it hidden."

Vargas, who served as the first Hispanic chief anchor with a major network, received support from ABC News who said it would happily welcome her back when she was ready to continue work.

Vargas is now a part of Alcoholics Anonymous; she has a sponsor, and the support and prayers of her friends and family.