Anderson Cooper, a name familiar to many Americans, is an American Broadcast Journalist and political Commentator. He does double duty, anchoring a show for CNN called Anderson Cooper 360° and at the same time also anchors another show, ‘ 60 Minutes on CBS News.’
He is no ordinary journalist; if you look at his awards, you will see that he has won 18 Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, an Edward Murrow Award, and several GLAAD Media Awards. According to the prominent New York Times, he is also considered “the most prominent openly gay journalist on American television” after he came out as Gay in 2012. He also became the first member of the LGBTQIA+ community (aka first openly Gay Person) to moderate the Presidential debate in the year 2016.
His parents are no ordinary people either; he was born into a very influential family. His mother is heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, and his father is the writer Wyatt Emory Cooper. Cooper, born on June 3, 1967, got his B. A. in Political Science from Yale University in 1989.
His Career From 1990 to Present
We are going to look at Anderson’s Journey from 1990 to the present, from his beginning at Channel One to his hit show on CNN. His career as an anchor, reporter, and host will be given here.
Channel One
In 1990, Cooper was able to land a job as a fact checker for Channel One news. While there, Anderson forged a Press pass and then self-produced a coverage of the Myanmar Political Turmoil.
The program was aired by Channel One, and he was later made the chief international correspondent.
While working for Channel One, he also lived for a year in Vietnam, learning Vietnamese at a University; he also made footage of Life and Culture of Vietnam, which was aired on ChannelOne.
ABC(American Broadcasting Company)
The assignments he did while in Channel One made him feel like he was getting desensitized to violence. In 1995, Anderson started his work as a correspondent for ABC. He then eventually, went on to co-anchor an overnight program called World News Now. In the year 2000, he switched careers again and ended up as the host of The Mole, a reality show by ABC.
CNN (Cable News Network)
He went back to his root as a reporter in the year 2001 with CNN; he anchored alongside Paula Zahn on American Morning. In 2002 he also hosted CNN’s New Year’s Eve special from Times Square.
Anderson Cooper 360° is the show that helped Anderson to reach fame. To be more specific, his coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katerina helped him reach fame and gain more audience.
His other shows include The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper, CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, Syndicated talk show: Anderson Live, Planet in Peril documentary, 60 Minutes(belonging to CBS), etc.
Apart from being a Journalist and Commentator, he is also a writer and has a bunch of books under his name like, The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss (2016; written with his mother), Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty (2021; written with Katherine Howe) and a memoir Dispatches from the Edge (2006).
Personal Life
Anderson publicly came out as gay in the year 2012, and in 2016 it was announced by him that he became a father to his first son on April 2020. His first child was named Wyatt Morgan Cooper.
On February 10, 2022, he welcomed his second child, named Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper. Though Cooper and his ex-partner, Benjamin Maisani, are no more together, they are still co-parenting.
Anderson Cooper Net Worth
As mentioned earlier, Anderson Cooper is from a rich family, and hence his Net worth will reflect that too. So after counting his inheritance Anderson Cooper’s Networth is speculated between $50 million to $300 Million (as of 2023).
He is also considered one of the highest paid Television Celebrities and earns almost $2 Million as his monthly income and at least $15 million as his Salary.
