Anderson Hays Cooper is a political commentator and American broadcast journalist. He is the main host of the show Anderson Cooper 360, which is a news broadcast on CNN.
Aside from working with CNN, He also serves as a correspondent on CBS News’ 60 Minutes. Cooper is also known for hosting Anderson Live. It is his syndicated talk show.
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Personal Life
Anderson Hays Cooper, commonly known as Anderson Cooper, was born in Manhattan, New York City, on June 3, 1967.
Cooper is the younger son of Gloria Vanderbilt, a fashion designer, and Wyatt Emory Cooper, a writer.
Cooper is also the great-great-great-grandson of railroad and shipping tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt. When Cornelius passed away, his net worth was $185 billion.
That net worth was enough to make him one of the richest people in the world. The maternal grandfather of Anderson passed away when his mother was just 1-year old.
He is also considered as the last male heir of the Vanderbilt fortune. He left his whole state to his daughter in 1925 together with $70 million.
The aunt and mother of Gloria Vanderbilt fought over her custody. However, the truth was that they were simply fighting for the control of the trust fund.
Ultimately, her aunt won custody. Her aunt was also the founder of the Whitney Museum. Gloria Vanderbilt would go on to have huge success as a fashion designer and an artist as an adult.
Before Anderson became a news anchor, he was a model for Macy’s, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein from the ages 10-13.
Anderson went to study International Relations and Political Science at Yale University. During his college days, Anderson spent several months as an intern at the CIA.
In 1978, Anderson’s father suddenly passed away. It was a tragedy for him. After 10 years, his older brother committed suicide.
These events made Anderson gain more interest in journalism. After he graduated from Yale University, Anderson lived in Vietnam for 12 months. He studied at the University of Hanoi to learn the Vietnamese Language.
Anderson worked for the news agency Channel One as a fact-checker. He also regularly sold homemade news segments to the channel.
Anderson filmed reports of life and culture in Vietnam. Eventually, he moved on to filming stories in different war-torn areas, such as Rwanda, Somalia, and Bosnia. His film was aired on Channel One.
Anderson Cooper is openly gay. For those who don’t know, he was the first openly gay individual to moderate a presidential debate in the general election.
Anderson Cooper moderated the 2nd presidential election debate in 2016 between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Aside from that, before choosing to publicly come out as gay, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, turned to Anderson for advice.
Anderson owns a renovated former firehouse in the Greenwich Village in New York and a beach house in the Brazilian town of Trancoso.
According to reports, his house in Greenwich Village is worth $4.3 million.
In June 2019, Anderson’s mother passed away. At the time of her passing, the net worth of Gloria Vanderbilt was $200 million.
Several weeks after her death, it was revealed that she had left most of her estate to Anderson Cooper.
Writing Career
Cooper has written a range of articles as a freelance writer. This includes publications such as Details Magazine.
In May 2006, he published his memoir “Dispatches from the Edge”. This book topped the New York Times Best Seller list in June.
Anderson also helped write a book with his mother in 2017.
In 2015, after interviewing Andy Cohen about his book “The Andy Cohen Diaries”, they came up with the idea for a 2-man conversational stage show. They named the show AC2.
They both opened their national tour in Boston. Then, they went on to tour around 50 cities.
The Vanderbilt Fortune
As mentioned earlier, Anderson Cooper is also known as a descendant of Cornelius Vanderbilt, a railroad tycoon and industrialist.
His mother inherited a multimillion-dollar trust fund from Reginald Vanderbilt, her father.
While the wealth on the side of his mother afforded him particular opportunities, Cooper obtained a minor $1.5 million inheritance following the death of his mother.
However, Cooper said in an Interview in 2014 that he does not expect or want a windfall of the wealth of his family.
More Info
The success and life story of Anderson Cooper is proof that any person can make it regardless of their identity.
Cooper is the first openly gay journalist to moderate the presidential debate in the United States. Cooper’s interest in journalism has seen him win several significant awards. This includes GLAAD media awards and a couple of Emmy awards.
Anderson Cooper Total Net Worth
After the 9/11 attacks in New York, Cooper started on CNN in 2001. Then, he became the weekend prime-time anchor of CNN in 2002 and has since hosted the New Year’s Eve special of CNN from Times Square.
Cooper became the host of Anderson Cooper 360 in 2003. After 4 years, he then joined CBS for the show 60 minutes.
Cooper is one of the most well-known personalities on CNN. According to reports, he has a salary of $12 million per year.
Aside from that, Cooper was the heir to the fortune of Gloria Vanderbilt, his mother. It is believed that he obtained all of her property when his mother passed away.
However, it isn’t clear what exactly the monetary inheritance was. According to Cooper, his mother did not leave him a trust fund.
He said in a radio interview that his mom made clear to him that there isn’t any trust fund.
Aside from his 8-figure salary, Cooper is also a well-known author.
It’s a book that tells the story of Cooper’s career and life. He also helped write a memoir for his mother. The book has a title called “The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss”.