“Where’s Allison Payne?”
That’s what viewers in the Chicago area have been wondering this month after the veteran anchor went missing from WGN‘s 11 a.m. weekday newscast.
It turns out that Payne has been experiencing problems with her vocal cords.
“She was diagnosed a few months ago and tried to tough it out. But her doctor eventually ordered her to cut back using her voice,” WGN news director Greg Caputo told Chicago media reporter Robert Feder.
In Payne’s absence, Dina Bair has been appearing alongside Steve Sanders for WGN’s midday newscast.
Payne took a leave of absence from WGN in 2008 following a newscast in which she slurred her words and wobbled in her seat, leading many viewers to suspect that she was drunk. Although Payne has admitted to a two decade-long fight with addiction, she has contended that she was sober during the infamous newscast and that her shaky delivery was the result of “a series of mini-strokes.”
(Note: a previous post on TVSpy organized information surrounding Payne’s absence in a way that one could infer that certain events happened more recently than they actually did. We sincerely apologize for the confusion).