Elizabeth Vargas Leaving ABC News After 22 Years

Elizabeth Vargas is leaving ABC News after 22 years at the network, RadarOnline.com can report.

An insider told RadarOnline.com that the 20/20 anchor sent an email to staff on Friday confirming the shocking news.

“I want you to hear some news about me, from me. I will be leaving ABC News, and 20/20 at the end of this historic 40th season,” she told her colleagues. “It has been a profound privilege to be the anchor of 20/20 for 14 years, and a true honor to work with each and every one of you. I am incredibly lucky to work alongside the very best in the business: the producers, editors, writers on this show, and the enormous team working every week to get our show on the air. I am so very proud of the stories we have told together.”

She added that she had hoped to keep her departure under wraps until after the new year, and reassured staff that she would remain on the job until May.

Vargas made headlines herself when she publicly battled alcoholism in 2014.

In her 2016 memoir, Between Breaths, she admitted she had checked into rehab five times in recent years.

“I was leading a double life: one as a network news anchor, traveling the world, reporting stories…the other as a woman who was sneaking drinks and hiding it from her husband and friends,” she wrote.