Logo

CNN’s Anderson Cooper Reveals He’s Gay

Jul 2, 2012  •  Post A Comment

CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who has been the subject of speculation about his sexuality for years, has come out as gay, the Daily Beast reports.

Cooper made the revelation in an email exchange with the website’s Andrew Sullivan. The two men are longtime friends.

Cooper sent a long email to Sullivan on the subject, which Sullivan posted on the site — with Cooper’s permission.

Cooper, the son of railroad heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, writes in his email to Sullivan: “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 adds: “Even though my job puts me in the public eye, I have tried to maintain some level of privacy in my life. Part of that has been for purely personal reasons. I think most people want some privacy for themselves and the people they are close to.

“But I’ve also wanted to retain some privacy for professional reasons. Since I started as a reporter in war zones 20 years ago, I’ve often found myself in some very dangerous places. For my safety and the safety of those I work with, I try to blend in as much as possible, and prefer to stick to my job of telling other people’s stories, and not my own. I have found that sometimes the less an interview subject knows about me, the better I can safely and effectively do my job as a journalist.

“I’ve always believed that who a reporter votes for, what religion they are, who they love, should not be something they have to discuss publicly. As long as a journalist shows fairness and honesty in his or her work, their private life shouldn’t matter.”

The story notes that Cooper’s relatively low-key revelation is part of an emerging trend.

Commenting on the trend, Sullivan writes: “Last week, Entertainment Weekly ran a story on an emerging trend: gay people in public life who come out in a much more restrained and matter-of-fact way than in the past. In many ways, it’s a great development: we’re evolved enough not to be gob-smacked when we find out someone’s gay. But it does matter nonetheless, it seems to me, that this is on the record. We still have pastors calling for the death of gay people, bullying incidents and suicides among gay kids, and one major political party dedicated to ending the basic civil right to marry the person you love. So these ‘non-events’ are still also events of a kind; and they matter. The visibility of gay people is one of the core means for our equality.”

The context of Cooper deciding to come out as gay was when Sullivan asked him to comment about the trend Entertainment Weekly wrote about last week.

anderson-cooper.jpgAnderson Cooper

9 Comments

  1. No. Said it ain’t so. Those of us who watched him giggle uncontrollably in a recent clip are SHOCKED!

  2. Quite the original comment, Doug! Good job. Only 1,000 more to follow like these.

  3. Not surprised.. and don’t feel he needed to “confirm” what anyone thought. Leave his private life alone.. I am dissapointed I don’t stand a chance with him now.. I’m on the other team… : (

  4. When will the media/public stop treating this information as news? Who cares!

  5. What these celebs don’t seem to understand is that no one cares whether they are gay or not. Keep your sexuality to yourself.

  6. Do you ever talk about your wife, girlfriend, or kids? If so, you are revealing your sexuality to the world, and no one seems to mind, no one suggests that you keep it to yourself…

  7. GUUURRRLLLLL I’z hadja clocked for ages now. CNN the gay network. B tween you and Christianne, you sure prop up the colored fag… oops i mean flag. I’z gay… but hadn’t earned much… so I’z not proud. I’z just comfortable being human and attracted to my own sex. Iz not trying to get pride because I’z at more risk of infections, even with protection.
    I’z not surpised.
    I have to wonder about the last few weeks. Suse Orman came out on her CNBC show, but we all knew she was a “brothah.” She used her whole show to come out and play the gay marriage card. (6/23/12 show)
    Why do we even need to tell everyone? Are we inviting them into our bedrooms with us? Really, it’s only your own business. Besides, if someone is negative towards us being gay, we don’t take that with the positive… although if we get negative, it’s our fault for telling the rest of our .5% of our life. Besides, It’s not a shocker anymore. We have plenty of gay heroes. What really is the point. In my day, it was a huge deal. Nowdays, it’s just disrespecting others, by not letting them be allowed to know as much as THEY need to know of you. It’s also just a waste of media time.
    Besides, we might just already know, by your lisp, or that you just appear to be a “swish” (gay term, not mine)

  8. I totally agree. Gays, other than myself, become victims when it’s brought up. They refuse to take the good with the bad of opening up their mouths.
    Point is, nobody does care. But if someone does, THINK BEFORE YOU BLURT OUT YOUR .5% OF YOUR LIFE. Someone can easily use that orientation against you. It’s happened to me twice… IN A LIBERAL/OPEN MINDED STATE, THEN COVERED UP TO LOOK LIKE SOMETHING ELSE. BOTH IN RESTAURANT INDUSTRIES.
    Even us gays are also tired of hearing of people being gay. We are even tired of seeing it and hearing about the bad infractions (Like Palm Springs, CA) and how they are entrapped (which they did to themselves).
    Who cares! Being gay is fine… but let’s move beyond that and be human, so we can accomplish more TOGETHER.

  9. When was the last time you heard some say “hello, I’m (insert name here)…. and I’m Straight?” Why should gays do this. It’s not natural to even hear this. Very awkward!
    This is what he just did. Maybe not the same exact words, the the example is the same.

Leave a Reply to patti Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)