Once at the helm of CTV News Vancouver, Les Staff recently took to a health and wellness podcast to talk about how he hit rock bottom after losing his job as director.
He was with CTV since 2007 and was the news director starting December 2021, but according to his staff profile page, he lost his job in January 2021.
Staff worked in TV news as a producer, anchor, and reporter for over 20 years.
The former news director was a recent guest on the All Things Fitness and Wellness podcast, where he revealed just how hard losing his job hit him. Another former CTV employee and on-air reporter Krissy Vann started the podcast following her departure from the station.
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Not only did Staff open up about how hard it was to lose his job, he also opened up about his issues with alcohol.
“I received an email from my boss that said, don’t come to the office; I need to talk to you; I’ll phone you at eight,” he recalled.
Staff added that he had sent a similar email “dozens of times” and knew what it meant.
He turned to his wife and said, “I’m gonna get fired this morning.”
“It destroyed me.”
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“I’m a recovering alcoholic,” Staff added later in the interview, adding that he has been sober for over 31 years.
Staff spoke about how he hit rock bottom in 1991, relating to his issues with alcohol, and that getting fired in 2021 was just as hard to deal with.
“Different episodes, different situations, but the feeling was the same,” Staff said.
He said that if he had the choice, he wouldn’t have changed those rock-bottom experiences because of the favourable places it led him.
Earlier this year, other big names were axed by CTV National News.
You can listen to the full episode on Spotify.