Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper
Born	Anderson Hays Cooper 3 6, 1967
Birthplace	New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Broadcast journalist, television personality, author
Known for	Anderson Cooper 360°, 60 Minutes
Education	Yale University (BA, 1989)
Children	2
Awards	18 Emmy Awards, 2 Peabody Awards, Edward Murrow Award
Website	[[andersoncooper.com andersoncooper.com] Official site]

Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is an American broadcast journalist and political commentator who has served as the anchor of the CNN news program Anderson Cooper 360° since 2003. A member of the prominent Vanderbilt family, Cooper carved out a journalistic career defined not by his patrician lineage but by a willingness to report from conflict zones and disaster sites around the world. After graduating from Yale University in 1989, he began his career in unconventional fashion, self-producing stories from war-torn regions before joining ABC News as a correspondent and eventually finding his long-term home at CNN. For two decades, Cooper simultaneously served as a correspondent for 60 Minutes, the venerable CBS News newsmagazine, a role he departed in February 2026. Cooper's on-the-ground reporting during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 elevated his national profile, and his subsequent coverage of major breaking news events has earned him 18 Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and an Edward Murrow Award. In 2012, he publicly came out as gay, and in 2016 he became the first openly LGBT person to moderate a U.S. presidential debate.

Early Life

Anderson Hays Cooper was born on June 3, 1967, in New York City. He is a member of the Vanderbilt family, one of the most prominent American families of the Gilded Age. His mother was Gloria Vanderbilt, the socialite, fashion designer, and heiress, and his father was Wyatt Emory Cooper, a screenwriter and author from Mississippi. Cooper grew up in New York City amid the cultural and social circles associated with his family's wealth and public prominence.

Cooper experienced significant personal loss at a young age. His father died during open-heart surgery in 1978, when Cooper was ten years old. His older brother, Carter Vanderbilt Cooper, died by suicide in 1988, jumping from the family's fourteenth-floor apartment in front of their mother. The death of his brother profoundly affected Cooper and, by his own account, influenced his later interest in stories of human suffering and resilience.

Despite growing up in privilege, Cooper developed an early interest in journalism and world affairs. His hair began turning silver when he was approximately 20 years old, a distinctive physical characteristic that would become one of his most recognizable features throughout his career in television. As a child, Cooper also had some early exposure to the world of entertainment and media; he was a child model and appeared on the cover of magazines during his youth.

Education

Cooper attended the Dalton School, a private preparatory school in New York City, before enrolling at Yale University. At Yale, he studied political science and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989. His time at Yale provided him with an academic foundation in political affairs that would serve his later career in journalism, though Cooper has noted that his real education in the field came through hands-on experience in the years immediately following graduation rather than through formal journalism training.

Career

Early Career and Channel One News

After graduating from Yale in 1989, Cooper did not follow a conventional path into broadcast journalism. Rather than pursuing graduate study in journalism or seeking entry-level positions at major networks, he chose to travel internationally to conflict zones, where he self-produced news stories using a home video camera. He gained access to war-torn regions in Africa and Southeast Asia and shot footage that he then offered to news organizations.

This freelance work led to a position with Channel One News, an outlet that produced news programming for American classrooms. At Channel One, Cooper served as a correspondent and continued to report from dangerous and underserved regions of the world. His willingness to travel to places most journalists avoided helped him build a reel of compelling international reporting.

ABC News

In 1995, Cooper was hired by ABC News as a correspondent. At ABC, he covered a range of stories and demonstrated versatility across different formats. Beyond his correspondent duties, Cooper took on several additional roles within the network. He served for a period as a co-anchor and also hosted the reality game show The Mole for ABC. He additionally served as a fill-in host on ABC's morning programming. While these varied assignments gave Cooper broad experience in television, they also positioned him as something of a generalist within the network, and he sought a role that would allow him to focus more squarely on hard news.

CNN and Anderson Cooper 360°

In 2001, Cooper joined CNN, a move that would define the next two and a half decades of his career. He was given his own prime-time news program, Anderson Cooper 360°, which debuted in 2003. The show, broadcast from CNN's studios in New York, was designed as a nightly news and analysis program, and Cooper served as both anchor and reporter. He has remained the host of the program since its inception.

Cooper developed a reputation for on-the-ground reporting of major breaking news events, often traveling to the scene of disasters and conflicts rather than anchoring from the studio. This approach distinguished him from many of his peers in cable news and became a hallmark of his journalistic identity.

Hurricane Katrina

Cooper's coverage of Hurricane Katrina in August and September 2005 marked a turning point in his career and public profile. Reporting live from the devastated Gulf Coast, Cooper delivered emotional and confrontational coverage that resonated with viewers. In one widely noted exchange, he challenged Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana on air as she praised government officials, pushing back with descriptions of the suffering he had witnessed firsthand. The moment crystallized a style of reporting—direct, emotionally engaged, and skeptical of official narratives—that became closely associated with Cooper's brand of journalism.

The Hurricane Katrina coverage sharply increased Cooper's popularity and viewership for Anderson Cooper 360°. He was recognized with awards for his reporting on the disaster, and the exposure helped establish him as one of the most prominent anchors in American cable news.

Haiti Earthquake

In January 2010, Cooper traveled to Haiti to cover the devastating earthquake that struck the country. His reporting from Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas was extensive and included coverage of the humanitarian crisis that followed the disaster. In one notable incident captured on camera, Cooper rescued a young boy who had been injured by looters, carrying the child to safety. For his coverage of the earthquake and its aftermath, Cooper received the National Order of Honour and Merit, the highest honor granted by the Haitian government.

Other Major Coverage

Throughout his tenure at CNN, Cooper has reported from numerous conflict zones and disaster areas around the world. His work has included coverage of the war in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, the BP oil spill in 2010, and various domestic and international breaking news events. He has also moderated several CNN presidential debates and town halls, becoming one of the network's most visible figures during election cycles.

60 Minutes

In addition to his duties at CNN, Cooper served as a correspondent for 60 Minutes, the long-running CBS News newsmagazine program. He joined the program and maintained a dual role at both networks for approximately two decades, contributing investigative and feature segments to the CBS broadcast while continuing to anchor Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN.

In February 2026, Cooper departed from 60 Minutes. According to multiple reports, his departure came amid tensions regarding the editorial direction of the program under new CBS leadership. A segment reported by Cooper examining claims of a "white genocide" against farmers in South Africa—an assertion made by President Donald Trump and disputed by the South African government—had reportedly been delayed from airing. The segment ultimately aired on February 22, 2026, days after Cooper's departure from the program was announced.

The Financial Times described Cooper's departure as occurring in a broader context of shifting media dynamics, noting that he had "built a career on restraint" and had declined an opportunity to continue working at CBS. Variety reported that Cooper's exit, along with tensions involving other CBS personalities, drew scrutiny to Paramount as it navigated a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. A public relations expert quoted by HELLO! Magazine characterized the circumstances surrounding Cooper's departure as a "controlled demolition," suggesting the timing was linked to broader editorial and corporate changes at CBS.

Anderson Live

From September 2011 to May 2013, Cooper hosted Anderson Live (initially titled Anderson), a syndicated daytime television talk show. The show aired in a talk-and-interview format and was produced in addition to his continuing duties on Anderson Cooper 360°. The program was cancelled after two seasons due to low ratings, and Cooper returned his full attention to his CNN program and 60 Minutes work.

Author

Cooper is the author of Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival, a memoir published in 2006 that drew on his experiences reporting from conflict zones and disaster areas. The book detailed his personal background, including the losses of his father and brother, and connected those experiences to his work as a journalist. He also co-authored The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss (2016) with his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, a book based on their personal correspondence.

Personal Life

Cooper is a member of the Vanderbilt family through his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, who was the great-great-granddaughter of railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. Despite his family's association with extraordinary wealth, Cooper has stated publicly that he does not expect an inheritance and has built his career and finances independently.

In July 2012, Cooper publicly came out as gay in an email to journalist Andrew Sullivan, which Sullivan published with Cooper's permission. In the email, Cooper wrote, "The fact is, I'm gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn't be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud." The announcement made Cooper, as described in media coverage at the time, the most prominent openly gay journalist on American television.

Cooper has two children. He announced the birth of his first son, Wyatt Morgan Cooper (named after Cooper's late father), in April 2020, and his second son, Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper, in February 2022. Both children were born via surrogate.

Cooper has maintained a friendship with television personality Andy Cohen, and the two co-hosted CNN's New Year's Eve special for multiple years.

Recognition

Cooper has received extensive recognition for his journalism throughout his career. He has won 18 Emmy Awards across various categories, reflecting work in both news and documentary programming. His two Peabody Awards recognized excellence in electronic media, including his reporting on significant news events.

In 2011, Cooper received the Edward Murrow Award from the Overseas Press Club for his outstanding contributions to international journalism. The award is named after Edward R. Murrow, the legendary CBS journalist, and is one of the most significant honors in broadcast journalism.

Cooper received the National Order of Honour and Merit from the Haitian government for his coverage of the 2010 earthquake, the highest honor the country bestows.

In 2016, Cooper became the first openly LGBT person to moderate a U.S. presidential debate, a milestone noted by media organizations and LGBT advocacy groups. He has received multiple GLAAD Media Awards recognizing his contributions to fair and accurate representation of the LGBT community in media.

Cooper was also recognized with a National Headliner Award for his broadcast journalism, particularly for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina and other major news events.

Legacy

Anderson Cooper's career spans more than three decades of American broadcast journalism, during which he has been a consistent presence on cable news through periods of significant transformation in the media industry. His tenure as anchor of Anderson Cooper 360° since 2003 makes the program one of the longest-running current affairs shows anchored continuously by a single host on American cable television.

Cooper's approach to journalism—characterized by on-location reporting from disaster zones and conflict areas rather than studio-based anchoring—influenced a generation of cable news programming. His coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, in which he visibly challenged official narratives while standing amid the destruction, is frequently cited as a defining moment in the relationship between cable news and government accountability during crises. The emotional directness of his reporting during Katrina contributed to broader discussions about the role of journalist objectivity versus advocacy in disaster coverage.

His 2012 decision to publicly come out as gay was a significant cultural moment in American media. As one of the most visible news anchors in the country, Cooper's coming out was covered extensively and contributed to the increasing visibility and normalization of LGBT individuals in positions of public influence. His subsequent role as the first openly LGBT moderator of a presidential debate in 2016 further underscored this impact.

Cooper's February 2026 departure from 60 Minutes drew attention to the ongoing tensions between editorial independence and corporate interests in American journalism. The circumstances surrounding the delayed airing of his South Africa segment prompted discussion in media circles about the pressures facing journalists within large media conglomerates during a period of political polarization.

As of 2026, Cooper continues to anchor Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN, remaining one of the most recognizable figures in American television news.