Brian Williams started embellishing his stories because he felt insecure following in Tom Brokaw's very large footsteps at NBC, according to a new report. The network handed Williams a six-month suspension in February after he acknowledged he had lied about being on board a helicopter that came under fire while reporting from Iraq in 2003. But according to a report in Vanity Fair, Williams started exaggerating his stories because he felt insecure about Brokaw, whom he succeeded at Nightly News in 2004. 'I always felt he needed to jack up his stories because he was trying so hard to overcome his insecurities,' one executive told the publication. Clash: Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams are pictured in New York in 2004 - the year Williams took over Brokaw's role on the Nightly News. A new report has claimed Williams always felt insecure following him . 'And he had to follow Tom, which brought its own set of insecurities. He likes to sort of tell these grandiose tales... I just saw it as one of the quirks of his personality.' But according to former correspondents who spoke to Vanity Fair, Brokaw wasn't so accepting of the 'quirks'. The stories left him 'incensed', the publication reported. On one occasion, Williams implied they had both been in Berlin together on the day the wall fell in 1989 - but he actually joined the veteran newscaster there the following day. On hearing the tale, Brokaw went into 'spasms of anger', one former exec told Vanity Fair. 'Tom treated that anchor chair as a public trust,' a former employee said. 'He really was our Walter Cronkite.' Others said that the two men had a troubled relationship after Williams took over the role because even though Brokaw pushed for him to get the job, Williams never 'embraced' him. 'I don't know why,' a source said. '[Williams] knows the rank and file will never love him like they did Tom, so he never tries. That's the reason there's not a lot of support for Brian over there.' Exaggerations: During a report in February, pictured, Williams recounted a tale of how he had been on a Chinook that came under fire while in Iraq in 2003 - but he had actually been in a separate aircraft . It also meant that when Williams found himself in hot water over his claim he had been in a downed Chinook - when he had actually been in a separate aircraft - Brokaw didn't have his back. A friend told the publication that while Brokaw - who was 'livid' about the scandal - didn't call for Williams to be punished, he 'didn't try to save him either.' Following the suspension, Williams reportedly declared to a friend: 'Chalk one up for Brokaw.' Not impressed: Brokaw, pictured in February, came 'incensed' when he heard Williams' exaggerations . The article also claimed that when he was called out for lying in his reports and conversations following the 2003 helicopter incident, Williams couldn't bring himself to admit he had made it up - and instead, he suggested he might have a brain tumor. '(He said,) 'Did something happen to (my) head? Maybe I had a brain tumor, or something in my head',' a source said. 'He just didn't know. We just didn't know. We had no clear sense what had happened. We got the best (apology) we could get.' When it came to uncovering the truth behind what actually happened in the 2003 helicopter incident, NBC quickly learned Williams himself would be of no help. 'He was having a tough enough time coming to grips with the idea that he had gotten it wrong in the first place, slash misrepresented it, slash lied,' one insider said. Others suggested that the problem with Williams' work was because the newscaster, who had never been a war or foreign correspondent before taking over at Nightly News, had no interest in reporting on war stories or 'heavy' news and lacked the experience of his predecessors. His appearance on late-night talk shows and comedy series, such as 30 Rock, suggested that instead of getting into gritty news, he actually wanted his own talk show, Vanity Fair suggested. While some NBC employees say this diversity was admirable and something his predecessors had never mastered, others say it did not go down well with the network. 'He didn't want to leave New York,' one source said. 'Getting him to war zones was real tough... but when he did go, he came back with these great stories that kind of put himself at the center of things.' In February, Williams was forced to admit that he wasn't aboard the helicopter that was hit and forced down by enemy fire in Iraq in 2003  - a story he had often repeated over the past 12 years. 'Overwhelmed': Sources told Vanity Fair that Williams, pictured in Iraq, did not want to report on 'hard' news and didn't enjoy politics or war stories, and lacked the experience of his predecessors . Lies: During a report in 2003, he reported how a Chinook, pictured, had been grounded but he later claimed he had been aboard the aircraft that was shot down. In fact, he was on one about 30 minutes behind . It came after he claimed on the Nightly News in January that his aircraft had been hit, causing outrage from the soldiers who had actually been involved. Crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment's Chinook that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire had told Stars and Stripes that the NBC anchor was nowhere near the aircraft or two other Chinooks that had been flying in formation when they took fire. According to the crew members, Williams arrived about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing. Even though Williams learned about the uproar over his false story on Facebook, he failed to bring it up with NBC execs when he met with them the next day, suggesting deeper flaws within the network and its relationship with staff, former employees told Vanity Fair. Days after the false report, he acknowledged the lie as he spoke to a reporter. 'I would not have chosen to make this mistake,' Williams told Stars and Stripes. 'I don't know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.' While Williams initially believed he'd be back to work within days, he was ultimately suspended for six months, and he accepted that he had to step back, sources said. NBC Nightly News is now being anchored by Lester Holt and it is unclear if Williams will return. Questions: A number of Williams' seemingly outlandish claims also came under scrutiny . Red Bank, New Jersey, 1970s . In a 2011 interview, Brian Williams recalled his time as a teenage volunteer firefighter during which he saved a puppy. But in a 2005 Esquire interview, Williams said he saved two puppies. In the same Esquire interview, Williams also revealed he had been mugged at gunpoint while selling Christmas trees in the sleepy New Jersey town in which he grew up. A number of locals have questioned the credibility of his claim that someone 'stuck a .38-caliber in my face'. Iraq War, 2003 . Over the years, Williams has told multiple versions of a story about being in an Army Chinook helicopter during the Iraq War in 2003. Earlier this year, he claimed his helicopter was hit by ground fire, an allegation he was later forced to admit was false after an outcry from soldiers who were present. Williams issued an on-air apology and wrote on Facebook: 'Nobody's trying to steal anyone's valor.' He was later suspended over the incident. Hurricane Katrina, 2005 . Williams has told several stories about his experiences reporting from New Orleans. He has claimed to have seen a dead body float past the window of his hotel in the city's French Quarter – even though the area wasn't flooded. The accuracy of other Katrina claims, including that he caught dysentery drinking the flood waters and that his hotel was 'overrun' with gangs, have been called into question by others who were on the ground during the disaster. Israel, 2006 . In a 2007 interview with Fairfield University Student Television, Williams recalled 'Katyusha rockets passing just underneath the helicopter I was riding in' during a trip to Israel. In fact he was nowhere near enemy fire and in a broadcast segment filmed that day he described rocket fire 'six miles away'. Boston, 2006 . A Navy vet accused Williams of lying to skip an event honoring members of the Armed Forces so that he could appear on Saturday Night Live. On the day of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society event the NBC News anchor told organizers that a 'pressing engagement' meant he wouldn't be able speak at the dinner, but later that evening he appeared in a walk-on role on SNL's Weekend Update.
Williams was suspended  from NBC in February after it emerged he'd lied about being in a helicopter that was shot down in Iraq in 2003 . A new report in Vanity Fair claims Williams lied because he felt insecure taking over from beloved anchor Tom Brokaw at the Nightly News . While some execs saw his lying as 'quirks' of his personality, the tales left Brokaw 'incensed' and he ultimately didn't support Williams in February . After he was accused of lying, Williams wondered if he had a brain tumor . But other NBC employees said Williams had always been out of his depth because of his lack of experience and disinterest in 'hard' news .