Diane Sawyer was a media figurehead until she stood down from anchoring ABC World News. So, where did she go?

For many Americans, Diane Sawyer was a familiar face on ABC World News. Then in June 2014 the network announced that she’d be stepping down as news anchor on the show, and her public appearances consequently became less frequent. So, where is Sawyer now, and what has she been up to since leaving her position?

For those of you who are regular news viewers, Sawyer’s name may be practically synonymous with hard-hitting journalism. Her career has been long and storied, too; she has been on and off our TV screens since 1967, in fact. But Sawyer’s penchant for public affairs seemingly began many decades ago in Louisville, Kentucky, where her family relocated shortly after she was born.

The future news anchor had come into the world in December 1945, in Glasgow, Kentucky, as the youngest child of Jean Sawyer and Erbon Powers “Tom” Sawyer. Sawyer wouldn’t find her calling, however, until she was in her teens and working as editor-in-chief for The Arrow, the newspaper at Louisville’s Seneca High School.

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Nor was that Sawyer’s sole achievement when she was young. In 1963, for example, she emerged victorious in America’s Junior Miss scholarship pageant. The future journalist won in part thanks to an essay that focused on the different types of music that had emerged during the American Civil War.

Then after Sawyer graduated in journalism from the University of Louisville, things began heating up professionally for her. Firstly, Kentucky station WLKY-TV hired her as its weather forecaster; ultimately, though, the position wasn’t exciting enough.

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And so despite a later promotion to a general-assignment post, Sawyer looked to bigger things. In 1970, then, she moved to Washington, D.C., where the fledgling journalist took on the job of assistant to Jerry Warren – then the White House deputy press secretary. But that was just the beginning.

And it wasn’t long before Sawyer’s ambition lifted her even higher. That’s because, months later, she earned the role of assistant to White House press secretary Ron Ziegler. And in this position, she embarked on first drafts of public statements that President Nixon would ultimately make.

Sawyer’s foray into politics ended in 1978, however, when CBS News employed her as a reporter. Then, two years later, she became a political correspondent for the network. But the journalist’s television career really took off in 1981 when she became the co-anchor on CBS’ Morning with Charles Kuralt.

Sawyer’s promotion gave her a chance to show the world her own journalistic style, too, and she seized the opportunity. For a time, she appeared with her co-anchor on both Morning with Charles Kuralt and CBS Early Morning News; her debut on the former also coincided with a spike in its ratings.

However, when Kuralt left the show, the popularity surge became a slump. In 1984 Sawyer therefore requested another position, which CBS granted that same year. Her new role was as correspondent for the channel’s newsmagazine 60 Minutes, with Sawyer becoming the first woman to ever take up the job.

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And perhaps thanks to Sawyer’s presence, 60 Minutes became one of America’s most popular TV shows. She stayed on in her job for half a decade, too, until in 1989 ABC News presented her with another role: co-anchor of Primetime Live.

Sawyer remained with ABC from then on, appearing on several different programs throughout her tenure. Among them was 20/20, on which she worked for two years alongside both Barbara Walters and her Primetime Live colleague Sam Donaldson.

In 1999 Sawyer then returned to morning news through co-anchoring Good Morning America. It’s a testament to both Sawyer’s reporting skills and popularity, too, that she made what was originally intended to be a temporary placement into a more than decade-long stint on the show.

Not only that, but the reporter returned to her old haunt Primetime – now known as Primetime Thursday – in 2000. And she worked on both shows for years before dedicating herself solely to Good Morning America from 2006.

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On Good Morning America, Sawyer also broke many news stories to her viewers, including details of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11. But although the journalist could have settled in for an even longer stint on the show, it appeared that she wasn’t yet done climbing the career ladder.

Yes, after a decade of co-anchoring Good Morning America, Sawyer revealed that she would be off to pastures new. “I’ve calculated [I’ve done] 2,881 shows, roughly,” she told ABC News in December 2009. It seemed as well that Sawyer wanted to go out with a bang. “I hope you celebrate with us this week [and] laugh this week [before I leave],” she added.

Even so, Sawyer’s co-anchor, Robin Roberts, expressed just how much she would miss her. “It is so difficult,” Roberts confessed to ABC News before comparing her partnership with Sawyer to that of Thelma and Louise. “My Thelma,” she gushed. “Thank you. We are going to do all things just like you this week.”

After that, Sawyer took on her new role as anchor for ABC World News Tonight. It appeared, too, that she was a hit with those watching: after her first month in the job, the program’s viewing figures increased by an impressive 8 percent.

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In all, then, that popularity surge meant that nearly nine million viewers on average tuned in for each show. Meanwhile, Sawyer settled into the role, where she developed a signature sign-off: “I’ll see you right back here tomorrow night.”

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And for the next five years, the public could have turned on their TV sets to see Sawyer reporting the daily news in whatever form it came in. Her style of interviewing was particularly hard-hitting, too. Robert Downey Jr. even referenced Sawyer’s powerful journalism during an emotional interview with the U.K.’s Channel 4.

Downey Jr. didn’t want his remark taken out of context, however. And as a result, he posted a picture of himself and Sawyer to Instagram not long after. The caption alongside the photo read, “A corrective experience with legitimate journalism” – a seeming approval of the anchor’s work.

Nevertheless, these days, Sawyer isn’t as frequent a sight on our TV screens as she once was. In fact, compared to her previous reporting presence, it may seem as though she’s disappeared completely. And while her absence raises many questions, it’s likely that there are lots of people all asking the same one: where is Sawyer now?

Well, you can trace Sawyer’s diminishing TV presence back to June 2014, when she made yet another announcement about her career. At that time, she revealed that she was stepping down as an anchor for ABC World News Tonight.

And on her last broadcast day with the show, Sawyer explained, “I’m not going far: down the hall, up the stairs. And I am not slowing down but gearing up in a new way [and] already at work on some of the stories that take you into the real lives around us. The ones we rarely get to see.”

Then sadly, in October 2014, Sawyer’s mother Jean passed away in Louisville. Though details of her specific illness weren’t reported, she was believed to have been in poor health for some time. Jean, who was 94 when she died, had been an elementary school teacher and a civic leader.

But despite her grief, Sawyer still gave a statement to the press that month in which she described her mom as “a force of nature, optimistic, spunky and energetic.” Furthermore, she said, Jean had had a real impact on those whom she had once taught.

Talking about her mom, Sawyer recounted, “Her students by the hundreds were jolted into the possibilities of their lives. She was a pioneering spirit.” And the journalist may have spoken from experience, too: after all, her mother was also her third-grade teacher.

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But that wasn’t the only loss Sawyer suffered that year, as tragically her husband also passed away in 2014. The news reporter had been wed for 26 years to award-winning director Mike Nichols, who is perhaps best known for successful movies such as Working Girl, The Graduate and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

And Nichols’ passing came mere weeks after Jean’s death, meaning Sawyer was apparently hit especially hard. An unnamed friend of the reporter seemingly confirmed, too, how Sawyer had been struggling to cope during this tough time.

“Losing [Nichols] when [Sawyer] was still grieving over her mother is just an incredible emotional toll,” the anonymous source said to Closer Weekly. “But [she] is holding up as well as you could hope for.” And, understandably, it took the ex-anchor some time to adjust to her new circumstances, although her loved ones helped ease the transition.

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But despite having experienced those devastating losses, Sawyer continued with her successful journalism career. For example, she returned to 20/20, where she embarked on special interviews with contemporary figures. And in earnest talks with Sawyer, guests revealed personal issues or spoke about subjects that they’d never publicly addressed before.

Take April 2015’s Bruce Jenner: The Interview, for example, which Sawyer hosted. There, Jenner came out to Sawyer – and, indeed, the world – as transgender with the four words, “I am a woman.” The former Olympian is now known by the name Caitlyn.

But that wasn’t the last big story that Sawyer would break with 20/20. Since then, she has covered several hard-hitting topics, in fact, during which she has gotten to the root of issues in her trademark direct yet sympathetic manner.

Nor has Sawyer remained untouched by loss since her husband and mother passed away. In March 2016 former First Lady Nancy Reagan died, and the journalist was invited to speak at the funeral. She was among many other distinguished guests at the occasion, including former president George W. Bush and Michelle Obama.

But Sawyer has resumed her on-point journalism, which has included a foray into the subject of Islamist terrorism. Her investigation, which looked into ISIS recruitment in America, actually began in 2016, meaning she and her team spent over a year researching the issue.

Then, in a special 20/20 feature broadcast in November 2017, Sawyer revealed the fruits of her and her colleagues’ labor. In the process of making the show, she had secured exclusive interviews with both teenage ISIS members and devastated parents trying to find their radicalized children.

Sawyer continued to pop up on screens throughout 2018, too. During that year, for example, she interviewed Sally Field on Good Morning America. And during the chat, the actress opened up to Sawyer about her relationship with the late Burt Reynolds.

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Additionally, in April that year Sawyer tackled the topic of sexual harassment for ABC’s The View. In light of the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal and the MeToo movement, the anchor took the issue to street level, where her investigation revealed how the same issue affects regular people as well as big Hollywood names.

Plus, Sawyer has already made an appearance in the press in 2019 – albeit as an interviewee. To help commemorate the 15th anniversary of its website TVNewser, Adweek questioned both Sawyer and her one-time co-anchor Roberts. And there, the pair revealed the truth behind their relationship.

“Sometimes I think we had the same parents,” Sawyer told Adweek. And Roberts concurred. “I often feel that way,” she said, adding that Sawyer is a genuinely caring person. So, although we don’t see Sawyer as often as we used to, she is still very much in the spotlight. And as the veteran broadcaster once said herself, she’s not gone far.

Meanwhile, another news show presenter who seems to have disappeared from our TV screens is Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The View panelist appeared to be everywhere for a while. But since she walked away from her Fox News gig, it feels as though we hardly hear from her. So, what exactly happened to Hasselbeck?

While most contestants on the reality hit Survivor disappear back into obscurity, Hasselbeck managed to carve out a hugely successful TV career. In fact, thanks to a long-running stint on The View and a co-hosting gig on Fox & Friends, the talk-show regular barely left our screens for more than a decade. But all has gone quiet since the outspoken conservative quit the latter program in 2015. Here, then, is the truth behind why she pressed stop on her day job.

Elisabeth Hasselback was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, in 1977 to liberal parents. Her mother worked as a tutor and a lawyer, while her father was an architect. In 1999 Hasselback graduated from Massacheusett’s Boston College, where she enjoyed success captaining the women’s softball team and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Then followed a brief spell working as a designer for a high-profile sportswear brand. But in 2001, the then 24-year-old was cast in the second season of the TV reality show Survivor.

Hasselbeck eventually finished in fourth place on Survivor: The Australian Outback, which saw the public vote on contestants split into two “tribes.” Later that year, Hasselbeck was invited to judge the Miss Teen USA pageant. Then in 2002 she married her long-term boyfriend, pro-footballer Tim Hasselbeck. This was the same year that she landed her first major TV gig – as host of The Look for Less fashion series on the Style Network.

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Years later, Survivor host Jeff Probst said he was always certain Hasselbeck would go on to bigger and better things. “Every guy on the crew fell in love with her,” he told HuffPost in 2014. “We watched this young girl mature into this fighting phenomenon, and everybody wanted to date her. They thought about marrying Elisabeth. It was all in our fantasies.”

So the one-time Survivor began to thrive, and her TV career reached new heights in 2003 when she was chosen to replace Lisa Ling as a permanent co-host on daytime talk show The View. Hasselbeck would become renowned for her conservative views and even sparked an emotional on-air row in 2006 over the use of the morning-after pill. At the time, Hasselbeck controversially called for a banning of the over-the-counter sale of the drug – even in cases of incest and rape.

Hasselbeck courted further controversy the following year with her support of the war in Iraq. The subject famously saw an on-screen bust up with her fellow presenter, comedian Rosie O’Donnell. And later in 2007, Hasselbeck made headlines for claiming that a new government savings bond for newborn children would lead to a subsequent fall in the abortion rate. This caused a fall out with actress Whoopi Goldberg, another host of The View. In 2012 Hasselbeck was also heavily criticized by comedian and actress Kathy Griffin for perceived bias during a joint interview with President Barack Obama.

Nevertheless, this outspoken attitude and the consequent feuds inevitably helped boost the profiles of both The View and its controversial presenter. Indeed, 2009 saw Hasselbeck and her fellow anchors on The View scoop a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. And by 2010, the program was pulling in more than six and a half million viewers.

Despite her candid and highly contentious views, though, Hasselbeck claims that she doesn’t actually consider herself to be a conservative. Still, the TV star did appear as a keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention in 2004 and again in 2008. Hasselbeck also introduced Sarah Palin, the controversial then-candidate for the vice presidency, at a rally in Florida. And in 2013 Hasselbeck was hailed by the right-leaning current affairs magazine Newsmax as one of the GOP’s 25 most influential women.

Around the same time, too, TV industry talk alleged that Hasselbeck’s conservatism was becoming increasingly unpopular with the audience of The View. Then whispers began to circulate that she was about to be fired from the show – so much as that co-host Barbara Walters denied these rumors on air. Nevertheless, just months later, Hasselbeck announced on July 9, 2013, that she was quitting The View after a decade. She would instead jump ship to join morning talk show Fox & Friends.

The very next day, during her last appearance on The View, Hasselbeck gave a tearful speech in which she singularly praised fellow hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, Joy Behar and Barbara Walters. However, during an interview on The Rachael Ray Show two years later, Hasselbeck claimed she was glad to no longer be working on The View. The star also admitted that she hadn’t watched the program since her departure.

In September 2013 Hasselbeck made her debut as Gretchen Carlson’s replacement on Fox & Friends. And in just two months, the new presenter had helped to increase ratings of the news magazine show by 9 percent. But it would only be two years later that Hasselbeck unexpectedly announced her decision to leave the program. Yes, she made her final appearance as a friend of Fox just three days before Christmas 2015.

Hasselbeck later revealed that she had quit Fox & Friends in order to concentrate on bringing up her young family. After all, she has three children with husband Tim Hasselbeck, the NFL quarterback star she first started dating back at Boston College. Their daughter, Grace Elisabeth, was first to come along in 2005. She was followed by two boys, Taylor Thomas and Isaiah Timothy, in 2007 and 2009, respectively.

Hasselbeck discussed the reasons behind her departure during an emotionally charged episode of Fox & Friends on November 24, 2015, the day after she handed in her notice. The star said, “I am taking a new position as CBO – chief breakfast officer – at our house with the kids. And that does mean that in about a month, I’ll be leaving my Fox News family.”

Continuing to address her viewers, she added, “The kids need the best of me, not the rest of me. This is a really, really hard decision, but I know it is the right one, and I thank you all at home for understanding.” Hasselbeck also revealed that she felt “the peace of God” about her choice to leave Fox & Friends and – it proved – television itself.

But some observers believe that there were other contributing factors to Hasselbeck’s decision to stand down from her TV duties. In 2014, for instance, the presenter was forced to take some time out from Fox & Friends after doctors discovered a tumor in her abdomen. Happily, Hasselbeck found out later that the growth wasn’t cancerous. Nevertheless, the scare may well have forced the star to reassess her priorities.

And that was not the only health problem Hasselbeck has had to face. Indeed, she lives with an autoimmune disorder known as celiac disease, which affects the small intestine. In 2009 Hasselbeck published a self-help book, The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide, aimed at sufferers of the condition. Two years later, the star launched a line of gluten-free foods suitable for both children and adult celiacs.

But although Hasselbeck has not been seen on screen lately, she has not been entirely absent from the media spotlight. In 2016 and 2017, for instance, the mom-of-three hosted the K-Love Fan Awards, an event staged by the titular religious radio station. Hasselbeck is, after all, a committed christian. She has previously denounced the removal of bibles in U.S. hotel rooms and the persecution of believers in Iraq.

Hasselbeck also made headlines in 2016 for her defense of Roger Ailes, the Fox News chairman accused of sexual harassment by her Fox & Friends predecessor, Gretchen Carlson, in a lawsuit. Hasselbeck told the website behind Entertainment Tonight that Ailes “treated me with overwhelming respect, and pure-hearted kindness, for which I am forever thankful.” Nonetheless, Fox later settled with Carlson over the allegations.

Later that year, too, Hasselbeck was back in the news, this time due to the sale of her family home. The five-strong Hasselbeck unit departed their Colonial-style house in Greenwich, Connecticut, for a six-bedroom property in Belle Meade, Tennessee. The multi-millionaire couple had also previously owned two apartments in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

More recently, the now 40-year-old Hasselbeck has been spending time working on the board of not-for-profit organization The Positivity Project. The initiative aims to teach young people how to form healthy relationships with other members of society using positive psychology. Visiting a school participating in The Positivity Project in Raleigh, North Carolina, Hasselbeck spoke to a local CBS-affiliated TV station. She said, “Kids themselves are saying they love having class time to understand character – that’s incredible.” And if there’s one person who knows all about strength of character, it’s Elisabeth Hasselbeck.