Trivia

Spent two summers as an intern at the CIA.

Son of Gloria Vanderbilt (Gloria Laura Morgan Vanderbilt), a socialite and artist, from New York, and Wyatt Cooper (Wyatt Emory Cooper), a writer, from Quitman, Clarke, Mississippi.

Started getting gray hair at the age of 20 and was completely gray by the age of 35.

During his senior year at Dalton, he left school and drove across South Africa in a truck. He contracted malaria while there and had to be hospitalized.

His son Wyatt Morgan Cooper is named in honor of both his parents. His father's name was Wyatt and Morgan was Gloria Vanderbilt's middle name as well as her mother's maiden name.

Graduated from Yale in 1989 with a BA in political science.

He studied Vietnamese at the University of Hanoi in the 1990s.

His older brother Carter Vanderbilt Cooper (born on 27 January 1965) committed suicide by jumping from the 14th floor of his mother's Gracie Square Manhattan penthouse on 22 July 1988.

Modeled with Ford Models for Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Macy's from age 10 to 13.

In his autobiography "Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival" he recalls that as a small boy, his mother showed him the statue of his great-great-great-grandfather Cornelius Vanderbilt at Grand Central Station. For several years after, he believed that when one's older relatives died, they turned into statues. Cornelius Vanderbilt made part of his vast fortune in the railroad business, which is why his statue stands at Grand Central.

Ranked #2 among "The Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America" by Out Magazine in May 2007. After years of speculation, Cooper publicly admitted his homosexuality via a July 2012 email to Andrew Sullivan.

At the age of 3, Cooper was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) on 17 September 1970, when he appeared with his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt.

Signed a multi-year deal with CNN, which would allow him to continue as a contributor to 60 Minutes (1968) as well as doubling his salary from $2 million annually to a reported $4 million. (2007)

A self-described "news junkie", having been one "since I was in the womb".

Named as one of the Sexiest Men Alive in 2005 by People magazine.

He has English, and smaller amounts of Chilean, Dutch, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish, and Welsh, ancestry. Anderson's maternal grandmother, Gloria Maria Mercedes Morgan, was born at Grand Hotel National, Lucerne, Switzerland, to an American father and a Chilean mother. Anderson's Chilean great-grandmother, Laura Isabel Delphine Kilpatrick, was born in Santiago, to American Civil War Union general Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, and his Chilean wife Luisa Fernandez de Valdivieso.

Second cousin once removed of James Vanderbilt and third cousin once removed of Timothy Olyphant.

He waited tables at Mortimer's while growing up and admits that he was a terrible waiter. Even though he could have capitalized on his family name in order to win some sympathy from restaurant diners, he chose to remain anonymous and really learned, first hand, what it was like to really be a waiter, warts and all.

Photographed as a baby by Diane Arbus for Harper's Bazaar.

Has two half-brothers from his mother's marriage to Leopold Stokowski: Leopold Stanislaus "Stan" Stokowski (born August 22, 1950) and Christopher Stokowski (born January 31, 1952).

One of the Top 10 men on Vanity Fair's international best-dressed list, which was published in the magazine's April 2004 issue. He appeared again on the international best-dressed list in the magazine's September 2006 issue.

Interviewed news legend Walter Cronkite at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California, in the second installment of a four-part University of Judaism Public Lecture Series (26 February 2007).

Graduated from Dalton School in Manhattan (1985).

Anderson's partner, French nightclub mogul Benjamin Maisani, runs the "Eastern Bloc" (E. Village), "Bedlam" (E. Village), "Atlas Social Club" (Hell's Kitchen) and "LOVEGUN" (Williamsburgh) in New York.

He has been a guest co-host of Live with Kelly and Ryan (1988), filling in for Regis Philbin on several occasions since 2006.

Commencement speaker for the graduating class of 2005 at Kean University and the class of 2006 at Yale University.

Has a pet Welsh Springer Spaniel named Molly.

In October 2005, it was announced that he signed a US $1 million contract to write a memoir for Harper Collins detailing his "life as a journalist and human being in Sri Lanka, Africa, Iraq and Louisiana/Mississippi" over the previous year. It was entitled Dispatches from the Edge and was released 23 May 2006. Some of Cooper's proceeds are being donated to charity. In addition, the book topped the New York Times bestseller list on 18 June 2006.

In March 2018, Anderson Cooper told People Magazine that he and his longtime boyfriend, Benjamin Maisani, had "separated as boyfriends some time ago. We are still family to each other, and love each other very much. We remain the best of friends, and will continue to share much of our lives together.".

Cooper returned to broadcast news, now on CNN (2001).

Also is a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in many other outlets, including Details magazine.

ABC News correspondent from 1995 to 2000.

He was Number 3 on Playgirl magazine's Sexiest Newscasters List in 2004. In second place was Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity and in first place was MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

Is a huge fan of the New York-based pop band Scissor Sisters.

Writes a monthly column for Details magazine.

His book, "Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters and Survival", is released. (May 2006)

Has two half-nieces and one half-nephew by his elder half-brother Stan Stokowski: Aurora (born March 1983), Abra (born 1985) and Myles (born 1998).

Close friend of Andy Cohen.

Great nephew of Thelma Morgan.

A head shot of him as an infant by photographer Diane Arbus hangs in his mother Gloria Vanderbilt's Manhattan apartment.