Anderson Cooper is the star presenter of CNN and also the rich heir of the late Gloria Vanderbilt, a woman of high society and queen of jeans, whose vicissitudes as a poor rich girl fascinated America from the pages of the pink press but Furthermore, he has been a gay icon for a few years.
The journalist, one of the most influential in his country, spoke for the first time about his sexuality in 2012. “I am
gay,
I always have been, always will be and I couldn't be more happy, comfortable and proud of it, ”he said at the time.
Since then Cooper, 53, has publicly urged others to follow his example whenever he can.
"I know it is a personal decision, that each one has to make following their own reasons, but obviously we would all be better off with more visibility."
Now he has talked about how he found out he was gay and when he actually accepted it.
"Being gay is a great blessing," he proclaims.
It was by answering questions from
CNN's
Full Circle
viewers
on Monday that Cooper spoke of his process.
Thus he said that he knew for the first time that "something was happening" around the age of 7.
“I realized that I wasn't sure I understood the word gay at the time, but something was up.
Something was different, ”he responded to whoever asked how he learned to accept being gay and how old he was when he did.
The host added that while he had told people in high school, it wasn't until after college that he came to terms with his sexual status.
“I think I really accepted it, and not only did I accept it, but I fully embraced it and came to love the fact that being gay.
I had problems in my teens, certainly, even a little bit in college because for many of the things I wanted to do at that time you couldn't be gay. "
Cooper revealed that he was interested in joining the military, but could not, and that he felt limited when traveling for "security reasons."
"I felt many limitations and it was not what I imagined for my life," he explained in his appearance.
“I imagined a family and getting married.
All the things that were not possible at that time.
So it took me a while to fully come to terms with it, ”Cooper continued.
“But then I thought: I don't want to waste any more time worrying about this, I want to embrace who I am.
I think being gay is one of the great blessings of my life. "
He added: "It has made me a better person and allowed me to love the people I have loved and have the life I have had, so I am very blessed."
Cooper spoke of his homosexuality in 2012 in a statement in which he explained that "I could not be more happy and proud."
The journalist welcomed his first child, Wyatt Morgan, in April last year, through a surrogate.
“Being a father is really the best.
I wish I had done it sooner, ”he said of parenthood.
His family life was not easy either.
Son of Gloria Vanderbilt, Anderson remembers how inclined his mother was when it came to talking about her private life but how she stopped him from talking about his own.
However, the feeling that her silence was seen as a sign that she was ashamed of her condition made her publicly admit her sexual orientation.
Anderson, who runs the
Anderson Cooper 360 program
, has been described as one of the "most prominent gay journalists on American television," according to
The New York Times
.
In 2016, the journalist was the first homosexual man to moderate a presidential debate.
Topics associated with homosexuality are included in its news coverage such as reports against abuse in schools, the lives of transsexual families or the danger of those who offer therapies to abandon homosexuality or of policies such as “Don't ask, don't answer "that for years the homosexual presence dominated in the US military.
And also now the journalist wants to be the voice of reason that convinces others to live their sexuality in public.