Anderson Cooper never imagined that he would be able to have a child or a family but he feels grateful for both now.
Families come in all shapes and sizes. Some families have many members, while some have single moms and single dads. Life might be tougher this way, but most of those parents won't have things any other way, because as long as there is no dearth of love, the size of the family does not matter. After all, sometimes traditional families do come with limitations. Many of us grew up wanting more involvement from our fathers and in a non-traditional family dads might be more involved no matter what their age.
Anderson Cooper, 53, son of Gloria Vanderbilt, grew up in a home with a single parent. The CNN anchor was 10 when his father passed away and it was just him, his older brother, Carter, and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt.
"She was not the most parental person, and I wish some adult after my dad died had stepped in and just been like, 'You know what? I’ll take you to a ball game or let's go out to lunch every now and then. Let’s just talk,'" Cooper said on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show. Cooper is raising his baby boy, Wyatt Morgan, with ex-boyfriend Benjamin Maisani. He explained that he chose to co-parent because he wants his son to have more people who love him. "And so I thought, 'Well if something happens to me — or even if something doesn’t happen to me — if more people love my son and are in his life, I’m all for that," he added.
Cooper had announced in 2019 that he split from Maisani. "Benjamin and I separated as boyfriends some time ago," Cooper, then-50, said in a statement released to the Daily Mail. "We are still family to each other, and love each other very much." And, they have remained a family.
Cooper recently shared an update on his 5-month-old son along with an adorable photo of them together. "My son will be five months old in less than two weeks," he captioned the image. "He is such a happy baby even though he has started teething. He loves being read to and so far Dr. Seuss is his favorite, particularly One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Ok, that's my favorite, but he does seem to like it a lot."
The proud father had shared an update in July as well. "Wyatt is 10 weeks old and doing great. He likes naps and milk, bath time and being read to. Thank you for all your lovely cards and messages!" he said.
He had opened up to People magazine in June and revealed how much fatherhood has changed him. "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 said at the time. "This is a dream come true."
"It feels like my life has actually begun," Cooper continued. "And I sort of wonder, what was I waiting for? This is a new level of love. It's unlike anything I've experienced, and yet it's also very familiar and incredibly special and intimate. It's really extraordinary."
The grateful man is not taking his child for granted at all and even though he was tired and sleep-deprived then, he said he "wouldn't change it for the world." He also revealed that his ex-boyfriend and he get quite emotional over their son.
"I cry at things I never cried at before," he shared. "And Benjamin, I've never seen him cry, but I couldn't believe how weepy he gets with Wyatt. I find myself being overwhelmed with emotion, and it's a lovely thing."
Fatherhood does seem to be an emotional ride for fathers, just like Prince William has previously revealed. He too lost a parent early in life like Cooper and had revealed that becoming a dad-of-three has made him "a lot more emotional than" he used to be, he was quoted as saying by Hello! Magazine. "I never used to get too wound up or worried about things. But now the smallest little things, you well up a little more, you get affected by the sort of things that happen around the world or whatever a lot more, I think, as a father. Just because you realize how precious life is and it puts it all in perspective. The idea of not being around to see your children grow up [is horrible]," said he.
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BziBc47uDjg&feature=youtu.be
https://people.com/parents/anderson-cooper-son-wyatt-5-months-selfie-photo/
