In January 2006, following the death of Peter Jennings, 43-year-old Elizabeth Vargas was named co-anchor of ABC's World News Tonight, one of the most prestigious jobs in television news. The job required Elizabeth and her co-anchor, Bob Woodruff, to travel to some of the most dangerous places in the world.
Just weeks into their new assignment, Bob was reporting from Iraq when he and a cameraman were nearly killed by a roadside bomb explosion. Days after this shocking development, Elizabeth revealed to her bosses that she had recently found out she was pregnant with her second child. With everyone hoping that Bob would quickly recover, Elizabeth initially planned to continue as sole anchor until giving birth, after which she'd take a short maternity leave and then return to the anchor's chair.
Bob's injuries, however, were too serious for that speedy of a recovery. Elizabeth began having second thoughts, as well. "Over the period of those five or six months after Bob's injury, it became clear that it was going to be a tough job to do once this baby arrived," Elizabeth says. "My husband was not keen on the plan of me hopping on airplanes and disappearing for a week at a time and leaving him and my children, especially a baby, for that long and going to places that are horribly dangerous."
