Anderson Cooper Career Summary
Anderson Hays Cooper (born June 3, 1967) is a political pundit and broadcast journalist in the United States. He is the primary anchor of CNN’s news program Anderson Cooper 360°. Cooper works as a correspondent for CBS News’ 60 Minutes in addition to his job at CNN.
Cooper, who was born in Manhattan into the Vanderbilt family, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1989. He began traversing the world as a young journalist, shooting footage of war-torn countries for Channel One News.
Cooper was hired as a correspondent by ABC News in 1995, but he quickly moved on to other positions across the network, including a stint as a co-anchor, reality game show presenter, and fill-in morning talk show host.
Cooper joined CNN in 2001 and was given his own show, Anderson Cooper 360°, in 2003; he has been the show’s host ever since.
He became well-known for his on-the-ground reporting of breaking news events, and his coverage of Hurricane Katrina boosted his profile significantly.
Cooper was awarded the Haitian government’s highest medal for his coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the National Order of Honour and Merit.
He also hosted his own syndicated daytime talk show, Anderson Live, from September 2011 until May 2013. Cooper has received 18 Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and the Overseas Press Club’s Edward Murrow Award in 2011.
Anderson Cooper Partner
Cooper came out as gay in 2012, becoming “the most prominent openly gay journalist on American television,” according to The New York Times. Cooper was the first out gay person to mediate a presidential debate in 2016, and he has garnered multiple accolades from the LGBT rights organization GLAAD.
Anderson was in a relationship with his partner Benjamin Maisani.
On July 2, 2012, he granted Andrew Sullivan permission to publish an email in which he wrote, in part:
I’ve begun to consider whether the unintended outcomes of maintaining my privacy outweigh personal and professional principle. 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 – something that makes me uncomfortable, ashamed or even afraid. This is distressing because it is simply not true. … 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.
Cooper and his partner purchased Rye House, a historic home in Connecticut, in 2014. Cooper and his long-term lover Benjamin Maisani announced their breakup in March 2018.
Cooper announced the birth of his son Wyatt Morgan via surrogacy on April 30, 2020. Cooper and Maisani are no longer romantically linked, but they intend to co-parent. Wyatt is named after Cooper’s late father, Wyatt Cooper, while his middle name comes from his Vanderbilt ancestors, being the maiden name of his maternal grandmother Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt.
Anderson Cooper Age
Cooper is 55 years of age as of 2022, he was born on June 3, 1967, in New York City, United States. He has been celebrating his birthday every year together with his family and friends on June 3.
| Year | 2022 | 2023 |
| Anderson Cooper Age | 55 years | 56 years |
Anderson Cooper Family, Early Life and Education
Cooper was born in Manhattan, New York City, the younger son of Wyatt Emory Cooper, an author, playwright, and actor, and Gloria Vanderbilt, an artist, fashion designer, writer, and heiress.
Reginald’s maternal grandparents were Vanderbilt family millionaire equestrian Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and socialite Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, and Reginald’s patrilineal great-grandfather was business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who founded the prominent Vanderbilt shipping and railroad fortune.
He is also a descendent of Civil War brevet Major General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, who accompanied General William Tecumseh Sherman on his march through Georgia, through his mother. He is a second cousin once removed of screenwriter James Vanderbilt through his maternal side.
Cooper’s media experience began at a young age. Diane Arbus photographed him as a baby for Harper’s Bazaar. Cooper appeared on The Tonight Show with his mother on September 17, 1970, when he was three years old.
He made his television debut as an impostor on To Tell the Truth when he was nine years old. Cooper posed for Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Macy’s for Ford Models from the age of 10 to 13.
Wyatt died on January 5, 1978, at the age of 50, after suffering a series of heart attacks while undergoing open-heart surgery. Cooper regards his father’s book Families as a classic “Sort of a manual for… how he would have wanted me to live my life and make the decisions he would have wanted me to make. As a result, I feel quite close to him.”
Carter Vanderbilt Cooper, Cooper’s older brother, committed himself on July 22, 1988, at the age of 23, by jumping from the 14th-floor terrace of Vanderbilt’s New York City penthouse residence.
Gloria Vanderbilt later wrote about her son’s death in the book A Mother’s Story, expressing her view that the suicide was caused by a psychotic episode brought on by an allergy to the anti-asthmatic prescription medicine salbutamol. Anderson attributes his interest in journalism to Carter’s suicide.
Cooper attended the Dalton School, a private co-educational university preparation day school on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Cooper, then 17, went on a “survival tour” around Africa for several months after graduating from Dalton a semester early. During the journey, he became ill with malaria and was hospitalized in Kenya.
Cooper described the experience as “a place to forget and be forgotten in.” Cooper went to Yale University and lived in Trumbull College. He was accepted into the Manuscript Society after majoring in political science and receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989.
Anderson Cooper Salary
Anderson’s salary is $15 million every year and gets a monthly salary of $129,870, he is a political pundit and television journalist from the United States. He is the primary anchor of CNN’s news program Anderson Cooper 360°. Cooper works as a correspondent for CBS News’ 60 Minutes in addition to his job at CNN.
| Year | 2022 | 2023 |
| Anderson Cooper Salary | $15 million | $15.5 million |
| Anderson Cooper Net Worth | $205 million | $209 million |
The average salaries of CNN news anchors range from $40,500 – $10 million per year. The typical CNN anchor salary is $101,500 per year.
Anderson Cooper Net Worth
Anderson Cooper is estimated to have a net worth of $205 million dollars at present. He has accumulated his net worth with the versatility he has shown in each field he has worked in. His main source of earning is from his journalism career. As he progresses in his career, his net worth is projected to rise.
