The incredible life of Anderson Cooper: How the son of an heiress became America's favorite news anchor
- Anderson Cooper is one of television's most recognizable news anchors.
- After he was born into a privileged family in New York society life, the journalism icon experienced adventure and tragedy.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Though now known as the lead anchor and face of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360°," Anderson Cooper has led a life of adventure, tragedy, and celebrity as he appears right at home in high society and war-torn countries alike across the world.
Cooper has been a household name since he was born to model, socialite, and heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, long before he led political coverage on one of the most prominent American news networks.
In perhaps his most memorable report to date, Cooper remembered his time alongside his famous mother as a "great blessing," and said he felt "very lonely" as the last living member of his immediate family.
See how Cooper made his own name.
Anderson Hays Cooper was born in New York City on June 3, 1967.
He was born as the second son of writer Wyatt Emory Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt, a well-known designer, railroad fortune heiress, and socialite.
In addition to her famous last name, Vanderbilt came to be known for her creative prowess through art, writing, and design.
Vanderbilt cemented her legacy with a skinny jean that bore her signature on the back pocket.
Because of his family's place at the top of New York City society, Cooper grew up in the public eye.
Tragedy first struck the family when Cooper was 10. His father died in January 1978 while undergoing open heart surgery.
Source: The New York Times
After his father died, Anderson and brother Carter were often pictured alongside their mother at public appearances.
Like his mother, Cooper modeled. At age 10, he signed with Ford Models, appearing in ads for Macy's and Ralph Lauren.
Cooper says he stopped modeling at 13 after a male photographer propositioned him.
Cooper went on to attend the exclusive K-12 Dalton School before studying journalism at Yale University, from which he graduated in 1989.
Source: Yale Daily News
Cooper interned at the CIA while searching for an on-air gig after graduation.
"It was less James Bond than I hoped it would be," Cooper told a crowd at American University while accepting the "Wonk of the Year" award in 2013.
Tragedy struck the family again when his then-21-year-old brother Carter committed suicide in front of their mother when he went over the balcony of her high-rise Manhattan apartment.
Source: People
Cooper and his mother have both pointed to Carter's death as bringing them closer together.
Source: People
After graduation, Cooper struggled to find an on-air reporting gig and instead invented his own.
Bored by his time in his first job as a fact-checker, Cooper faked a press pass and traveled on his own to Myanmar, where he singlehandedly shot video segments at the Thai-Burmese border on refugees' clashes with government forces.
Channel One then bought the footage and promoted Cooper from fact-checker to correspondent, after which he reported and produced stories to capture deadly conflicts in Bosnia, Cambodia, Haiti, Israel, Myanmar, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, and South Africa.
After nearly four years as an international correspondent for Channel One, Cooper joined ABC as a reporter in 1995.
Source: Biography
At ABC, Cooper led reports from all over the world before assuming a co-anchor role on the network's "World News Now."
Taking a hiatus from news that he later blamed on the thankless schedule, Cooper hosted the ABC reality show "The Mole," but left to return to news after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"My last year at ABC, I was working overnights anchoring this newscast then during the day at 20/20," Anderson later said. "I was sleeping in two- or four-hour shifts, and I was really tired and wanted a change. I wanted to clear my head and get out of news a little bit, and I was interested in reality TV—and it was interesting."
Cooper said he decided to make his exit because "two seasons was enough, and 9/11 happened, and I thought I needed to be getting back to news."
In 2001, Cooper joined CNN as a weekend anchor before moving to a primetime role in 2003 after the Iraq War.
Cooper led the network's coverage of several important events, including the 2004 presidential election.
He became a familiar on-air fixture as he rubbed shoulders with several big names during the race as he emerged as a prominent voice in the political arena.
Major news moments like former President Ronald Reagan's June 2004 death also gave Cooper time at the front of the network.
It was his on-air reporting in the September 2005 aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that launched him to a household name as he provided emotional accounts of the devastation in New Orleans.
Cooper's empathetic reporting was so widely watched it was mocked on "Saturday Night Live."
In May 2007, Cooper released his book, "Dispatches from the Edge" that chronicled his experiences reporting from war zones.
Source: Amazon
As he garnered professional success, Cooper maintained a relatively private personal life before coming out as gay in 2012.
Cooper pushed back on prying questions about his personal life as he did in a 2005 interview with New York Magazine. Cooper said he didn't talk publicly about his personal life because of the possibility it would distract from his role as a reporter.
"The whole thing about being a reporter is that you're supposed to be an observer and to be able to adapt with any group you're in, and I don't want to do anything that threatens that."
However, in 2012, Cooper announced in a widely circulated email that he is gay, writing that he decided it would do more harm if he continued to dodge the question.
"It's become clear to me that by remaining silent on certain aspects of my personal life for so long, I have given some the mistaken impression that I am trying to hide something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid," Cooper wrote. "This is distressing because it is simply not true. I've also been reminded recently that while as a society we are moving toward greater inclusion and equality for all people, the tide of history only advances when people make themselves fully visible."
During his time at CNN and as a correspondent for CBS's "60 Minutes," Cooper scooped up 16 Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and an Edward R Murrow Award.
Source: CNN
Another of Cooper's regular gigs includes hosting "New Year's Live," where he's entertained viewers since 2003.
Cooper became a regular fixture on the program alongside Kathy Griffin while the two were co-hosts for 10 years before Griffin's dramatic exit after a controversial photo shoot with President Donald Trump's bloodied head.
Cooper and Griffin both publicly talked about their friendship before Griffin's photo controversy, but amid the backlash against Griffin, Cooper publically called the photo "clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate."
Following those comments, Cooper said he was still friends with Griffin and wished her the best, but Griffin says their friendship is over.
Source: People
In 2016, Cooper released a book he wrote with his mother that offered personal reflections on their close relationship.
"The Rainbow Comes and Goes" came after Cooper and Vanderbilt resolved to keep up close correspondence as he was buried in work and she dealt with a newly onset illness. The book contains a year-long record of correspondence between the mother and son, who reflect on their families' tragedies and share tokens of wisdom on life.
As the 2016 campaign heated up, Cooper was at the front of coverage on key moments like real-estate tycoon Donald Trump's emergence as a Republican presidential candidate.
Cooper was selected in 2016 to co-moderate one of the three debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Outside of his reporting duties, Cooper has established a celebrity identity while appearing at events like New York Fashion Week alongside famous friends, including actress Sarah Jessica Park and Cohen.
In 2011, he was honored with a wax lookalike, cementing his status among the world's most recognizable celebrities.
Cooper even made appearances on Cohen's "Watch What Happens Live," once accompanied by his mother.
The anchor came to be one of Trump's top critics, often taking aim at the administration during the "Keeping Them Honest" segment of "AC360."
Source: Business Insider
In what is arguably Cooper's most memorable segment to date, he memorialized his mother who died on June 17, 2019 at the age of 95.
Cooper said on-air that the time he spent with her after a June 8 cancer diagnosis was a "great blessing," and he now felt "very lonely" after her death.
"I never realized until now how much she was my north star, things seem a lot less bright and magical without her," he said. "My dad died when I was ten, and my brother when I was 21. She was the last of my immediate family, the last person who knew me from the beginning. They're all gone and it feels very lonely right now. I hope they are at least together."