The book is about your mom, and the whole family,
the Vanderbilt family.
Is this something you thought about doing before
or what made you decide to write this then?
Yeah.
I mean, there's a history of the Vanderbilt,
and which I grew up not really knowing
anything about, and my mom frankly,
actually didn't really know much about them either
because she had a very sort of tortured background with them
as a child.
And I realized when I had Wyatt that I didn't
know what I would tell him about these people from his past
or his family's past.
So I started researching this, and I
wanted him to kind of have an honest view
of this family, which was once the richest family in America.
And in case people kind of imagine him
as being part of that dynasty, I wanted
him to know why he's not, and why I want him to kind of make
his own way.
I was surprised also because it really was.
The Vanderbilt family was like, you said,
a very wealthy family.
And you assume that it was passed down to you
but your mother did not leave you any money.
And you're planning on doing the same with Wyatt so that he
doesn't.
I do think it's important.
I mean, like college and stuff, I'll help him out.
Maybe.
We'll see.
But I think it's important for us to know the value of money
and work hard for it.
And I think--
I do think if somebody grows up believing that there's
some pot of gold that they're going to inherit or something,
I think it kind of sucks your initiative.
And if you look, I mean, that's one of the fascinating things.
one of the reasons I was so interested in the Vanderbilt
history is one guy made all the money.
And he died with $100 million in 1877,
which was one out of every $20 in circulation.
It was more money than it was in the US treasury.
And subsequent generations essentially
just spent the money, and build that big houses,
and they had yachts.
And you know, it's gone.
It disappeared.
And I'm glad I don't have the Vanderbilt name.
I'm glad my parents told me early on like, look,
college will be paid for it but that's it.
And that's the way it should be, and I think so.
But when you were younger, did you think, "oh, I'm
going to get some money."
No.
Never.
You never did.
No.
And I mean, I think other people thought that,
and I could always tell when somebody
knew "oh, this kid is--
his mom is Gloria Vanderbilt," and they
would make assumptions.
And I'd go online once there was the internet, occasionally,
I'd go online and like, read that I
was going to inherit the hundreds of millions
of dollars.
And I was like, "wow, that's news to me."
And my mom, right before she died, she was so funny.
She turned to me at one point, she was like, I don't know.
We were watching TV.
It was like the last two weeks of her life.
And she said, "boy, I bet people think you're going
to inherit a lot of money."
And she's like, "boy, won't they be surprised."
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah.
Won't you be surprised.
Although, you knew.
But you modeled as a kid.
I did.
I was very concerned.
My dad died when I was 10.
And when you lose a parent early on, it suddenly the world
seems to be a very dangerous place,
and I was very concerned about my mom.
And my mom was fantastic but she wasn't exactly like, yeah.
Oh, great.
Yeah.
Members only, 30% off.
It was a Member's only jacket.
Yeah.
It's now probably it's fully back.
That's probably now a thing again.
I bet it is.
Yeah.
That was a very groovy, early 80s thing.
And in the book also, it turns out
you have a family Chock-full of gays.
That's what's so interesting.
Yeah.
Who knew.
Yeah.
I mean, it's so interesting.
My mom was taken away from her mom as a child by courts,
and given to an aunt.
One of the reasons the court ruled to take my mom
away is that her mother was seen kissing a woman in bed who she
was having a relationship with.
And she had been married to a man
but she also had relationships with women.
My mom's aunt who she was given to
also had a whole secret gay life.
And the Commodore Vanderbilt, one of his sons, who he hated
was secretly gay.
And yeah.
He didn't end well.
But he gave his house to his male lover.
Wow.
Yeah.
I know.
I was like, wow, it's chock-full of gays.
Yeah.
You could have called the book, "chock-full of gays.
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
That's another.
That's your next book.
That is.
That's the sequel.
Yeah.
That's the Netflix series.
[LAUGHTER]
It's the spin.
I'm going to put on it.
Anderson, you're going to come back--
Or maybe just Vanderbilt, a gay old time.
Yeah.
That's right.
[APPLAUSE]
All right.
Tip my hat off you.
Right, you are.
All right.
We have to take a break but you're going to hang around.
You're going to help us raise some money for breast cancer
awareness later on in the show.
Vanderbilt, the Vanderbilt chock-full of gays, no.
That's not it.
[LAUGHTER]
Vanderbilt, The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty"
is available now.
You're all going home with a copy.
[APPLAUSE]
We'll be back.