Did you know that Anderson Cooper's first job in journalism was as a reporter for Channel
One News?
The star CNN anchor has come a long way since those humble early days.
Keep watching to see how else Cooper has transformed over the years.
Since he has built his own illustrious career as a journalist and broadcast news reporter,
it might be easy to forget that Anderson Cooper was famous from the moment he was born.
While his father, Wyatt Cooper, was a successful author and actor, his mother Gloria Vanderbilt
was a member of one of the most famous socialite families in the history of the United States.
As such, it makes sense that Anderson had a childhood that many would not describe as
typical.
While speaking to People, Anderson explained that his mother's famous friends were often
around the house, and he and his older brother, Carter, were never made to feel that they
weren't part of the conversation.
As he put it,
"If famous people were coming over to the house, like Charlie Chaplin or Truman Capote,
we would be sitting at the table next to them."
While the two children weren't banished to another part of the home, Anderson adds that
there were some expectations put into place.
After all, if you're going to spend a lot of time around adults, it's probably a good
idea to know how to behave like one — at least a little bit.
He said,
"We would be expected to kind of learn about who was coming and watch their movies and
be able to converse with them."
Sadly, as much as Anderson Cooper's childhood was filled with incredible opportunities,
conversations, and experiences with distinctive visitors, it was also marked by tragedy.
When Anderson was only 10 years old, his father Wyatt Cooper passed away while undergoing
heart surgery.
"He’d had a heart attack.
Heart disease was in his family."
In an interview with WebMD Magazine, Anderson later explained that he didn't talk about
how the loss of his father made him feel — not even with his mother.
When he began building a career reporting on the pain and tragedy of others, he realized
that by doing so he was able to tap into his own loss.
As he told the publication,
"I had cauterized my feelings.
I wanted to feel — to match my pain with what I was witnessing ... at first, I didn't
even realize why I was always covering war.
I just felt like a shark that had to stay in motion in order to live."
In 2016, Anderson and his mother co-wrote a book about loss and grief, titled The Rainbow
Comes and Goes.
In interviews promoting the book, Anderson directly addressed the topic at hand.
He told CNN that the death of his father closed him off in some ways.
He explained,
"I think the person I was before that was a lot more interesting, a lot more outgoing,
and funny, and sort of more compelling character than I am now."
After losing his dad so early in life, Anderson Cooper naturally formed a strong connection
to his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt.
While speaking to People in 2016, Cooper explained that even though his mom wasn't a "typical"
kind of mother, she was an incredible mom to him.
Still, that doesn't mean that he didn't have moments where he wished his mom was more like
his friends' mothers — but only to a point.
As Cooper told the magazine, he would sometimes feel envious when he spent time at his friends'
houses, but it wasn't long before he wanted to be back home where he belonged.
He said,
"[The] idealization of other people's moms would last a very short time.
I would start to feel smothered and would be eager to go back to my house because my
mom was much more creative and interesting and unconventional."
Cooper also told People that while his childhood might seem unconventional to many, he didn't
realize how different it was while he was in the thick of it.
As he put it,
"And it's only until later on that you realize, 'Oh, wait a minute, not everybody has this.
This is an amazing privilege and it was an incredible experience.'"
When Anderson Cooper made the move into journalism, he did so in a big way.
His first job in the role was for Channel One, where he started out as a fact checker.
One day, he grew bored with his role and took a camera to Myanmar.
The trip was totally on a whim, Cooper later recounted to an audience at American University
in 2013, and in order to pull it off he shared that,
"I actually made a fake press pass, and I borrowed a camera and I decided to start going
to wars by myself."
"So that's what I did.
I ended up going to wars for about 2 or 3 years."
The footage he captured landed him a new role at Channel One as its Chief International
Correspondent.
The position saw him reporting from countries like Haiti and Russia.
In 1995, Cooper took a role at ABC as a news correspondent.
He also spent his time at the network hosting its reality show The Mole, as well as serving
as the anchor for World News Now.
The terrorist attacks that took place in the United States on September 11, 2001, were
a pivotal moment for a lot of people, and Anderson Cooper was no exception.
In fact, he soon felt called to return to his original job in news.
Within two years, the network allowed Cooper to launch his own news show called Anderson
Cooper 360, and he has been loyal to CNN ever since.
As Cooper told Howard Stern in May 2020, there is literally nothing that could pull him away
from CNN at this point.
This was true even back in 2016, when many believed Cooper might jump ship to come on
board as Kelly Ripa's permanent co-host on Live With Kelly.
Before the move could be made, CNN struck a deal with Cooper that will reportedly keep
him there for a long time.
While the exact amount of his paycheck isn't known, Variety estimates that Cooper is paid
$12 million a year from CNN, in addition to any income he earns outside his duties there.
In 2009, Anderson Cooper met a man who would go on to have a profound impact on his life:
now ex-boyfriend and co-parent Benjamin Maisani.
The Sun notes that the two didn't go public with their relationship until 2015, and many
were surprised when Cooper revealed they had broken up in 2018.
Despite ending their romantic relationship, Cooper and Maisani have continued to be very
close.
In 2018 they were photographed leaving their home together despite being clear they were
no longer in a partnership, and Cooper eventually explained to Entertainment Tonight that they
still had a friendship, saying,
"Benjamin and I separated as boyfriends some time ago, we are still family to each other,
and love each other very much."
Though the two would fend off rumors that they had resumed their relationship in the
years that followed the split, with a source telling Us Weekly that following the birth
of Cooper's son Wyatt, the pair reunited.
The friend told the magazine,
"They very quietly got back together and are planning ahead.
Ben is selling one of his clubs and cutting back on how much he does at night so he can
spend more time at home with Anderson and the baby."
In 2019, Anderson Cooper's mother Gloria Vanderbilt passed away at the age of 95 following a fight
against stomach cancer.
Cooper announced the news himself on CNN, eulogizing his mother for the world.
He shared that her death came fairly quickly, as he had taken her to the hospital earlier
that same month.
Once there, the family learned her cancer had spread extensively.
Despite her loss, Cooper went on to explain that his mother received the gift of being
able to go out on her own terms with the people she loved most in the world.
"I think that without pain that we can't know what joy is, and that is very sustaining for
me."
He explained,
"She was 95 years old, but ask anyone close to her and they'd tell you, she was the youngest
person they knew, the coolest and most modern.
She died this morning the way she wanted to — at home, surrounded by family and friends."
Vanderbilt's story was a remarkable one.
After a childhood spent estranged from her own mother, Vanderbilt went on to marry four
men, and did not remarry after Cooper's father's death in 1978.
She gained further notoriety as a fashion designer in the late 1970s, and wrote several
books before her passing.
In April 2020, Anderson Cooper once again took to CNN to deliver some very personal
news, but this time around the news was thrilling: He had just welcomed his first baby, a son
he named Wyatt Morgan Cooper.
Wyatt's birth happened toward the beginning of the pandemic, and Anderson seemed thrilled
to be able to offer a little light to a world that was collectively in a dark place.
It was clear that Anderson had entered into a new, happier, more peaceful place as he
delivered the news of Wyatt's birth.
He explained,
"I am a dad.
I have a son.
And I want you to meet him."
Anderson also shared the news on Instagram and lamented the fact that his mother, father,
and brother were not alive to meet little Wyatt, but he added that he believed they
were all very happy about is son's arrival, explaining,
"I imagine them all together, arms around each other, smiling and laughing, happy to
know that their love is alive in me and in Wyatt, and that our family continues."
His son's birth was especially poignant for Anderson, as he also shared that he never
believed he would be able to become a father as a gay child.
In February 2022, Anderson Cooper once again took to CNN to share some delightful news:
He and his ex-boyfriend and co-parent Benjamin Maisani had welcomed their second child, a
boy named Sebastian Luke.
Cooper took an opportunity on Anderson Cooper 360 to tell viewers about the newest member
of the family, explaining that while he and Maisani are not together romantically, they
have chosen to build a family together.
Cooper said that Maisani is currently making sure Wyatt is his son legally, as he has been
co-parenting the almost two-year-old for his entire life.
As he explained,
"Wyatt calls me 'daddy' and Benjamin is 'papa.'
We're a family.
Benjamin is also in the process of adopting Wyatt [...]"
Following his announcement, Cooper explained that this time around, he's not nearly as
worked up about welcoming a baby into his life.
He also added that Sebastian has a lot more hair than Wyatt did, and that Wyatt is thrilled
to have a baby brother.
Little Sebastian has already been introduced to Cooper's longtime friend, Andy Cohen, who
described the baby as "a peaceful beauty" on Instagram.
As is clear from the glimpses of their co-parenting relationship that Anderson Cooper has revealed,
the CNN anchor and his ex-boyfriend Benjamin Maisani don't seem to have a difficult time
co-parenting their two children at all.
While speaking to Ellen DeGeneres in February 2021, Cooper explained that while the arrangement
might not work for everyone, it does for the two of them.
He said,
"We actually still live in the same house because we get along really well and, yeah,
it's weird but it works out."
Fascinatingly, Cooper also revealed that one reason he and Maisani ended their relationship
in 2018 was because his ex-boyfriend wasn't sure he wanted to have kids at all, but he's
now grown into a tremendous father.
In fact, Maisani is completely emotionally invested in their sons, with Cooper adding
that while he and Wyatt handled the infant's first vaccinations well, Maisani fell apart.
Cooper said,
"But I turned around when Wyatt got his first shot, and Benjamin is weeping!
He's become this, like, big softie.
It's really sweet to see."
Cooper also elaborated on the relationship to People, admitting that the two do have
disagreements — but never about anything too major.
As he put it, they argue about "silly, minor" things, and always make sure to put their
sons first.
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