Former Bay Area news anchor Frank Somerville gives first TV interview since DUI

Frank Somerville, former network news anchor at KTVU, has given his first television interview since leaving the station in 2021.

Somerville began broadcasting on KTVU in 1992 and became co-anchor in 2008, leading him to become a well-known figure around the Bay Area. In June 2021, he was seen on air slurring his words, and KTVU announced he'd be leaving the show for a time to focus on his health. Then in December 2021, a video surfaced of him crashing his black Porsche, and he was charged with two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol.

In a KRON interview with Pam Moore that aired last night, Somerville spoke for nearly 30 minutes about his career and substance abuse. He had previously posted about the events on social media and spoken with the San Francisco Chronicle, but had not yet given a television interview. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

Somerville said that the instance of slurring words on air was due to accidentally taking the sleeping pill Ambien instead of another prescribed medication. He stated that after going on leave, he went to rehab, but continued alcohol use.

Somerville said that he was drinking almost every night, citing sadness and loneliness over his divorce.

"It all came to a head when I got the DUI," Somerville said. "It was Christmastime. I was away from my family. I didn't see them at all over the holidays. It was just a really sad time, and so I got — I got trashed. There's no other way to say it, I got trashed in my apartment."

Somerville described wanting to go to Taco Bell, which was two blocks from his apartment. He said that he had no business driving and took responsibility for his actions, but had "absolutely no recollection of the accident whatsoever." Although he said he remembers few things from his night in jail, he recalled fighting with police officers over how tight his handcuffs were, which he said he called to apologize for afterwards.

When Moore asked whether he was addicted to alcohol, Somerville said he had "no desire to drink" and has been to DUI classes, but that he has had alcohol at Sharks games in recent months.

The interview ended with Moore asking why Somerville was speaking out now.

"I want people to see me. I want people to know that I've put in a lot of really hard work, that I take this really seriously, and that I, in my opinion, have come out the other side as a better person and that I'm going to continue to get better," Somerville said. "But what I really want people to take out of this, I hope, is that they can see that I'm just like them. Yeah, I made a lot of money, yeah, I had a big job, but yet I still failed at that. And I was scared to ask for help. So what I would say to people is, 'Please don't make that same mistake that I made. Please realize that what I did by not asking for help made it even worse.'"