Anderson Cooper- Meet the richest journalist and a member of the Vanderbilt family

Anderson Cooper is the face of the popular news shows “Anderson Cooper 360°” and “60 Minutes”. Through these shows, Anderson has brought ground-breaking reports on current affairs and other major events affecting the world. For his work in the field of journalism, Cooper has been presented with several awards and honors. Moreover, Cooper is cited as the most prominent openly gay journalist and is the first openly LGBT person to conduct a presidential debate. Follow this article for more details related to Anderson Cooper’s salary, net worth, personal life, professional career, awards and honors, etc.

Anderson Cooper Annual Salary 2023

Anderson Cooper is the richest as well as one of the highest-paid journalist in the world as of 2023. A reporter for CNN, Cooper takes home an estimated salary of $12 million every year.

Anderson Cooper’s Personal Biography

Anderson Cooper was born on June 3, 1967, in Manhattan, New York City, to Gloria Vanderbilt and Wyatt Emory Cooper. His father was an author, screenwriter, and actor while his mother was an artist, author, actress, and fashion designer. Gloria was also an heiress of the Vanderbilt family and a well-renowned socialite. Through his mother, Cooper was related to Reginald Vanderbilt of the Vanderbilt family and his wife Gloria Vanderbilt, who were his grandparents.

Cooper has two older half-brothers from his mother’s previous marriage. His elder brother Carter Vanderbilt Cooper died at age 23 by jumping from the family apartment. Cooper was 10 years old when his father died and 21 years old when his brother died.

Anderson Cooper Partner &  Children

Since 2009, Cooper was in a relationship with French businessman Benjamin Maisani but the couple broke up in 2018. his first son Wyatt Morgan was born in 2020 via a surrogate and he had another son in 2022, Sebastian Luke. Despite their break up, Cooper and  Maisani co-parent the children.

See Richest Journalist in the World

Professional Career in Journalism

College Years, Channel One, and ABC

Anderson worked as an intern at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) when he was enrolled at Yale University. After finishing college, Cooper decided to pursue a career in journalism even though he had no prior education relating to it. He applied for a job answering telephones in ABC but couldn’t get it.

Cooper got his first job with a small news agency Channel One as a fact checker. This channel used to broadcast programs in junior high and high schools in the United States. Cooper worked with Channel One for five years from 1990 to 1995.

In 1995, Cooper joined ABC News as a correspondent and later became the co-anchor on the “World News Now” program in 1999. The next year, he began working as the host of ABC’s reality show “The Mole” but left in its second season to join CNN. In 2007, Cooper came as a fill-in co-host on “Live with Regis and Kelly” and kept appearing as guest co-host even after leaving ABC in case of absence of any of the original hosts.

Career with CNN News & Other

Anderson Cooper joined CNN in 2001 as an anchor on the “American Morning” and one year later became a weekend prime-time anchor on the channel. He has been also serving as a host for the channel’s New Year’s Eve special from Times Square since 2002. Since 2003, Cooper has acted as an anchor on the popular chat show “Anderson Cooper 360°”.

With CNN, Anderson has covered the tsunami damage in Sri Lanka,  the death of Pope John Paul II,  the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, the Niger famine from Maradi, and many others. He has even received various awards including several Emmys, National Headliner Awards, GLAAD Media Awards, etc.

Other popular shows by Cooper on CNN include “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper”, “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute”,  “Planet in Peril”, etc. He is also a correspondent for the CBS News program “60 Minutes” while still working with CNN. Apart from this, Cooper has also served as a guest host on “Jeopardy!”, a narrator for the 2011 Broadway revival of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, and is a freelance writer as well.

Awards & Honors in Cooper’s Name

Emmy Award ATAS/NATAS

• 1997 for Coverage of Princess Diana’s funeral
• Outstanding Feature Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast (2006) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Charity Hospital”
• Outstanding Live Coverage of a Breaking News Story – Long Form (2006) for “Anderson Cooper 360: “Starving in Plain Sight” &
• Outstanding Continuing Coverage of a News Story In a News Magazine (2009) for “60 Minutes: War against Women”
• Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast (2011) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Haiti in Ruins” & 2016 for “Anderson Cooper 360: Europe’s Refugee Crisis”
• Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story – Long Form (2011) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Crisis in Haiti”, (2012) for “CNN/CNNi Breaking News Simulcast: Revolution in Egypt: President Mubarak Steps Down”, & (2013) for “CNN: Election Night in America”
• Outstanding News Discussion and Analysis (2012) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Bullying: It Stops Here”, (2013) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Kids on Race: The Hidden Picture”, (2016)  for “Anderson Cooper 360: #BeingThirteen: Inside the Secret World of Teens”, & (2019) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Finding Hope: Battling America’s Suicide Crisis”
• Outstanding Feature Story in a Newsmagazine (2017) for “60 Minutes: The Music of Zomba Prison”
• Outstanding Arts, Culture and Entertainment Report (2017) for “60 Minutes: Little Jazz Man” & (2020) for “60 Minutes: Mark Bradford”
• Outstanding Business, Consumer, and Economic Report (2017) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Trump University Fraud”
• Outstanding Live Interview (2018) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Faces of Grief: Sutherland Springs Pastor & Heather Melton”

National Headliner Award Press Club of Atlantic City

• Coverage of a Major News Event (2005) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Wave of Destruction” & (2012) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Egypt Uprising”
• Broadcast Television Networks, Cable Networks And Syndicators (2006) for “Anderson Cooper 360：9/11 Anniversary – Afghanistan: The Unfinished War” & (2008) for “Anderson Cooper 360: “Bhutto Assassination”
• Continuing Coverage of a Major News Event (2008) for “Anderson Cooper 360: “Michael Ware 2007 Coverage of Iraq” & (2010) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Inside the Battle Zone: Afghanistan”
• Investigative Reporting (2008) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Keeping Them Honest: Transparent Congress?” & (2011) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Black or White: Kids on Race”
• Documentary or Series of Reports on the Same Subject (2011) for “Taliban”
• Environmental Reporting (2011) for “Anderson Cooper 360: Amazing Animals: Smarter Than You Think”

Movies of Anderson Cooper

1. Chappie (2015)
2. The 33 (2015)
3. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Anderson Cooper Family Wealth

Although Cooper was born into a family with immense wealth almost all of his net worth is derived from his own successful career as a journalist. Cooper inherited a very low amount of fortune from his family wealth after his mother died and he wishes to follow in her footsteps. Anderson has made it clear that he won’t be leaving a lot of wealth for his children and wants them to forge their own paths.

Cooper’s fortune of $200 million is derived from his work as an anchor, primarily with CNN channel. The family wealth left to Cooper by his mother Gloria in 2019 amounts to merely  $1.5 million.

Anderson Cooper on Social Media

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