Anderson Cooper Is Leaving CBS News’ ’60 Minutes’ After Nearly 20 Years — Details

As previously reported, Anderson is raising two young boys in an arrangement that defies convention but works by design.

Anderson was twelve years old when he realized he was gay. From that moment on, he believed fatherhood was out of reach. “When I was 12 years old and knew I was gay and thought about my life, it always upset me because I thought, ‘I will never be able to have a kid,'” he would later reveal.

It was a conclusion shaped by the time he grew up in, long before surrogacy and same-sex parenting became part of mainstream public life. He publicly came out decades later, in 2012, in an email to journalist Andrew Sullivan, writing, “I’ve always known I was gay from the time I was a little kid.”

Still, the idea of having children never crossed his mind. The change only came in his early fifties, when he decided to pursue fatherhood through surrogacy.

Introducing His Son to the World

On April 30, 2020, Anderson ended his CNN broadcast with personal news: he had become a father. His son, Wyatt Morgan Cooper, had been born three days earlier, on April 27.

Anderson introduced his son to the public on Instagram. Alongside a picture of the infant, he wrote, “This is Wyatt Cooper. He is three days old. He is named after my father, who died when I was ten.”

Wyatt weighed 7.2 pounds at birth. His middle name, Morgan, came from Anderson’s mother’s side — a name his parents once considered for him when he was born.

“I recently found a list they made 52 years ago when they were trying to think of names for me,” he continued.

“I am grateful to a remarkable surrogate who carried Wyatt, and watched over him lovingly, and tenderly, and gave birth to him,” he added.

He also acknowledged the surrogate’s husband and children, calling their support an “extraordinary blessing” and adding, “My family is blessed to have this family in our lives.” The post also touched on the family members Anderson wished could have shared the moment.

“I do wish my mom and dad and my brother, Carter, were alive to meet Wyatt,” he wrote. “But I like to believe they can see him. I imagine them all together, arms around each other, smiling and laughing[…] that their love is alive in me and in Wyatt, and that our family continues.”

Fatherhood brought Anderson a sense of connection he hadn’t expected. As Wyatt grew, Anderson began noticing features that reminded him of his late brother. “I’ve started to realize how much Wyatt looks like Carter, who looked [like] my mom,” he said in 2021.

That resemblance sparked something deeper. Anderson described feeling a renewed bond to them. Raising his children has given Anderson what he described as an extraordinary connection to his loved ones who are no longer alive.

He spoke about how the experience stirred memories of his childhood and deepened his awareness of family continuity. One example was when he found a set of wooden blocks he and Carter had played with as boys. Seeing Wyatt now building with those same blocks left an impression on him.

“We drew robots on them and stuff,” Anderson recalled of his childhood. “So now to see Wyatt playing with those and building things, it’s crazy.” For Anderson, it was a tangible moment in which the past and present met inside his own home.

A Modern Family Built on Respect

« Previous Next »

Previous page Next page