Ex-ABC News anchor recalls bitter time at network, says gig exacerbated mental health decline

Former ABC News anchor Kendis Gibson believes he was punished for efforts to increase diversity at network and a since-fired executive turned a blind eye when the job was taking a toll on his mental health. 

Gibson’s new book, "Five Trips: An Investigative Journey into Mental Health, Psychedelic Healing and Saving a Life," dives into such topics as how "magic mushrooms" have helped his journey to the time he had a panic attack before interviewing Beyoncé. Gibson also dishes on his time at ABC News, where he worked from 2014 until 2018, when he says he attempted suicide partly because of the "toxic" environment. 

Gibson said he suffered from depression before he started his tenure at ABC News, but typically found a way of handling it until he became the anchor of "World News Now," the network’s overnight newscast. 

"Working those hours, though, exacerbated the mental health decline to the point that I ended up trying to do an attempt on my life in October of 2018," Gibson told Fox News Digital.

But Gibson says he didn’t know what was occurring behind the scenes at the Disney-owned network to help push him to the brink. 

"I was working with another correspondent, and we were leading a diversity effort at ABC to try to get more senior executives and above of color at ABC. At the time, this was in 2016, we didn't have a single Black senior producer or executive at all at the network on any of the shows. We knew that we had plenty of people on air who were Black… but we had no representation behind the scenes," Gibson said. "What we didn't know at the time was that there was a little bit of marginalization that was taking place for myself, and there was a little bit of payback that was taking place behind the scenes."

Gibson said the correspondent he was working with to bring diversity to ABC News ended up not having her contract renewed. As for Gibson, he said his appearances on ABC’s flagship AM program "Good Morning America" were cut by nearly two-thirds.

"My hits on ‘GMA,’ while it may have been subtle, just kind of disappeared overnight," Gibson said. 

Gibson, who is now an anchor for PIX11 News in New York, said the show’s producers questioned why he didn’t appear on the show more often, so he started looking for answers as it seemed like the decision was coming from above their heads. 

"What was happening behind the scenes that came to light much later on, was there was a senior vice president of news who had complete and overall power on many of our lives and who can decide who would be on the show, who would not, and I believe she was making sure that I did not get ‘Good Morning America’ appearances," Gibson said. 

"She was also the same person that, once my mental health started to decline, we reached out to say, ‘This is having an impact on me. I need to come off the show,’ and those pleas for some sort of help were never answered," Gibson said. 

In his book, Gibson refers to the executive, former ABC News head of talent Barbara Fedida, as the "puppet master," who "wielded more power than her already potent title would indicate." 

In 2020, ABC News fired Fedida after an internal probe found that she made "unacceptable racially insensitive comments" after reporting by journalist Yashar Ali detailed her treatment of Black journalists at the network. Tidbits from Ali’s reporting continued to haunt Gibson even after he left the network. 

"I learned that she referred to Robin Roberts, host of ‘Good Morning America,’ about a pay raise, saying that ‘it's not like we're trying to get her to pick cotton,’" Gibson said.

"Referring to me, she said that ABC News would pay more for toilet paper than they would ever pay for me," he continued. "This was a woman that basically had my mental health in her hand at the time, and to have known that, in hindsight, also a really terrible impact on my health."

Gibson said Fedida did hire him, but he’s not sure what her intentions were at the time. 

"History is littered, as I write about in the book, ‘Five Trips,’ with people who would hire or force people of color into labor if it benefited their bottom dollar," he said. 

In 2020, Fedida did not respond to a request for comment when Fox News Digital covered the allegations made against her. She did not immediately respond when asked about Gibson’s comments, either. 

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Fedida has now been away from ABC News for more than four years, and Gibson pointed out that a Black woman, Kim Godwin, was named head of ABC News not long after Fedida was shown the door. 

"Before, when we were meeting with them, they said they couldn't find any minorities to take some top spots," Gibson said. 

"Suddenly, after the Barbara Fedida scandal blew up, they were able to find executive producers, senior producers, vice president for talent," he added. "The ABC that we have right now is definitely more diversified behind the scenes." 

Godwin, who was the first Black woman to head a national news network, stepped down in May after a turbulent three-year stint. 

ABC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

"Five Trips: An Investigative Journey into Mental Health, Psychedelic Healing and Saving a Life" is available now. 

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Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.