At 10, Anderson Cooper Went to Studio 54 with Michael Jackson
Anderson Cooper shared a personal Michael Jackson story last night on AC360:
"When I was 10, for some odd reason, I went to Studio 54 with Michael Jackson and a bunch of people and I had no idea who he was and I saw him dance and I was like, Oh, that guy is a really good dancer. Why I was at Studio 54 is a whole other story... Child welfare authorities probably want to talk to my mom."
Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted Jun. 26,2009 at 8:35 AM EST by Andy Towle in Anderson Cooper, Deaths, Michael Jackson, News, Nightlife | Permalink
Moms always know first. Gotta love Anderson's awkward laughter.
Posted by: White Label | Jun 26, 2009 9:30:32 AM
One night at Studio when Michael Jackson showed up at the DJ booth with Steve Rubell, I remember how P'd-off I got that they actually turned the music off (and interrupted my buzz) only so Michael could whisper a "Hello".
Not sure if that was the night Anderson was there or not.
Posted by: NSFW | Jun 26, 2009 9:59:34 AM
he forgot to mention that MJ gave him jesus juice and took him up stairs.
Posted by: pussyfoot | Jun 26, 2009 10:30:11 AM
Not a big deal. Drew Barrymore went to Studio 54, too, as a child. Oh, parenting in the 70s!
Posted by: latebrosus | Jun 26, 2009 10:45:55 AM
LOL
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Jun 26, 2009 11:10:55 AM
aww..cute gay nerd laugh :)
Posted by: Ford | Jun 26, 2009 11:59:47 AM
Oh, Anderson . . . I bet that was the first of many trips to Studio One. We all know your story, dear . . . no need to keep it all bottled up these days. Do yourself as well as the GLBT Community a big favor and, as Harvey Milk said "just come out." - all the way out.
Posted by: David Gibson | Jun 26, 2009 2:52:01 PM
Yeah I really wonder why Jackson took Coop to Studio 54. Maybe because he was a gorgeous little boy?
Posted by: Paul R | Jun 26, 2009 5:17:04 PM
@ Paul R.,
At the time Michael Jackson probably a beautiful little boy too.
Posted by: Phoenix | Jun 26, 2009 9:06:48 PM
paul-
just read the wiki on AC and he modeled for Ford Models from age 10-13. Clients including CK and Ralph Laurel...
He grew up to be a real cutie!
MAH BOO
Posted by: mark | Jun 27, 2009 2:27:49 AM
Toooooo easy.
Posted by: Derek Washington | Jun 27, 2009 2:59:02 AM
Phoenix, if Cooper (born in 1967) was 10, that means it was 1977 or 1978. So Jackson (born in 1958) would have been 19 or 20. Still weird.
Mark, I'm well aware of Anderson's early modeling and designer pedigree (both his mother and his clients). My comment wasn't meant as a joke.
Posted by: Paul R | Jun 27, 2009 3:09:58 AM
@Paul R
MJ didnt take Cooper to 54. Cooper's mother took him there. @ The time she was married to Sidney Lumet who was a producer for the movie "The Wiz", which MJ had a starring role in as the scarecrow. Gloria Vanderbilt took Cooper to the movie's premier and the opening night afterparty was held @ studio 54 so she took Cooper there as well. Trying to insinuate that MJ somehow preyed on Cooper or even took an interest in him is illogical.
Posted by: Brandon | Jun 27, 2009 4:27:38 AM
"...And I remember thinking to myself, Wow, that guy is....er...a really good dancer."
On a tangentially relaated note, when I was 3, I was entranced by the new album, Thriller, and had a bit of a crush on Michael Jackson, whereupon I asked my mother if I could marry him. She said no. I asked why not? She said, "Boys marry girls. Boys can't marry other boys." It was my first introduction to gay discrimination.
The larger point being, if only we all knew then what we know now, and ah! how times have changed.
Posted by: Andalusian Dog | Jun 27, 2009 10:33:51 AM
WOW......For a Man who was acquitted of these charges. The girls are really fierce in here with the molester statements and all.
But just remember don't call us Gays faggots, cocksuckers, etc. That would be a homophobic sluuuuuuuuurrrrrr.
What hypocrites!
Posted by: GBM | Jun 27, 2009 11:10:03 AM
People, especially rich people, have been known to be acquitted even when they did what their accused of. There is a lot of damning evidence against MJ and he paid multiple accusers tens of millions of dollars to settle out of court while fans and shady "private investigators" harassed the accusers and made settlement a more attractive option. When you saw MJ talk about things like teenage Tatum Oneal trying to have sex with him and saw him holding Webster like a security blanket on the red carpet "date" with Brook Shields it was also pretty clear the idea of sex with women (a likely with adults in general) really frightened him.
Gloria was actually married to Sidney Lumet before she married Wyatt Cooper and had AC. She and Lumet stayed friends, though, and Lumet invited her and her kids to the Wiz premiere and after party. Young child model Anderson was part of the group that rode to the party in MJ's limo (which may or may not have been something MJ himself suggested, but I have a hard time believing 18 yr old MJ would leap on top of Gloria Vanderbilt's 10 yr old in a crowded limo on the night they met).
Posted by: tk | Jun 27, 2009 3:36:27 PM
good. someone else did the math. if the coop was 10, michael was 18 or 19, legal drinking age in the 70's, but no reason why l'il coop should have been there. shame on gloria. well, i guess if andy coop ever comes out, he'll have MJ to blame.
Posted by: nic | Jun 27, 2009 3:48:22 PM
Aside from the Coop story and my misunderstanding of it, there's also a lot of undisputed evidence that MJ held a lot of slumber parties for children before he had children of his own. It's not hypocritical to call people out for bad behavior, and there were multiple multimillion-dollar payouts to the victims of his abuse. The one public trial was just the best-known case.
His huge legal and payout costs are one reason a man who earned billions in his 40-year career died $400 million in debt.
Posted by: Paul R | Jun 27, 2009 5:57:32 PM
"billions" PAUL R?
Posted by: nic | Jun 27, 2009 7:18:29 PM
Maybe if there had been a hot Latino 10 year old boy there AC would have danced.
Posted by: Mark | Jun 28, 2009 2:54:14 PM