The American Broadcast Journalist, Anderson Cooper is opening up about his sexual awakening. Cooper has been the primary anchor of the ‘CNN’ news broadcast show ‘Anderson Cooper 360°‘ since 2001. He came out as gay in 2012 and became “The most prominent openly gay journalist on American television.”
As an LGBT rights activist, he has received several awards from the organization GLAAD. In a recent interview, he talks about his exploration of sexual identity and how actor Richard Gere helped him in finding his truth.
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Cooper Reveals How His Childhood Environment Was Of Great Help In Exploring His Real Identity
The ‘Anderson Cooper 360°‘ host, recounts meeting a shirtless Richard Gere at age 11 and how at that moment he realized he was gay. He talked about this on ‘Radio Andy‘ with pal Andy Cohen from the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City.
Copper,55 recalled meeting his mom Gloria Vanderbilt’s gay friends as a kid, such as Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, and photographer Paul Jasmin who along with his boyfriend, took a young Cooper to see a Broadway show.
“And they took me to see Richard Gere in Bent, which if anyone doesn’t know about the play ‘Bent,’ it’s about two gay guys in the concentration camp,” Cooper recounted. “I mean the opening scene… It is the gayest thing you can imagine.”
“And this was Richard Gere in 1977, ‘Looking for Mr. Goodbar.’ He was so beautiful. And I’m there. My mom didn’t go. It was just me and my mom’s two gay friends,” he continued.
Anderson Cooper On Finding The Truth And Co-Parenting Sons With His Ex-Partner
The activist went on to explain that the opening scene features a man getting out of bed completely naked and putting on an SS uniform after sleeping with another man the night before.
“And I just remember being like, ‘Oh my God, I’m gay. … I’m totally gay.’ Paul Jasmin was friends with Richard Gere,” he said. “Cause Paul Jasmin took the pictures for American Gigolo and we go backstage and Richard Gere is shirtless in his dressing room.”
“And I couldn’t speak. And I had my Playbill and I wanted to get him to autograph it, but I was too — I just couldn’t stop staring at his chest. And so, fast forward to 10 years ago, I was interviewing Richard Gere and I took out the Playbill … and I told him the whole story and I had him sign it. Yeah. He was very tickled with it,” Cooper said.
The CNN anchor co-parents sons Wyatt Morgan, 2, and 4-month-old Sebastian Luke with ex-partner Benjamin Maisani. He opened up to ‘PEOPLE’ about their arrangement.
“I’ve always believed that if you’ve been with somebody and that ends, in terms of an intimate relationship, if you love somebody, there’s no reason why that love shouldn’t continue,” Cooper said in the September issue.
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