Anderson Cooper joined Stephen Colbert on The Late Show Monday night and revealed some news about his new son Wyatt, along with a few other things he has learned since becoming a parent last week.
“It's extraordinary,” Anderson told Colbert. “It's astonishing. I just stare at him and hold him and I just can't believe. I just can't believe that A) he's going to depend on me and that he belongs to me, that he's here. I've always dreamed about it, but I never thought I would actually be able to do it. It's just incredible. It's like tectonic plates shifting except it doesn't leave you in rubble.”
Asked if he's gotten any advice from BFF Andy Cohen on parenting, Anderson said, “He's actually really helped me because my son is entirely wearing hand-me-downs from Andy Cohen's son. A) I'm inherently cheap, I like a good value. First of all, it's a pandemic. I was planning on going shopping, which I hate to do and then online shopping, how do you do that for baby clothes? Do you go to BuyBuyBaby or Amazon? I don't know. It just seemed weird. So yeah, he just gave me all the clothes. I wanted my son to be like a Depression-Era child who grows up wearing hand-me-down clothes.”
And the CNN anchor, who famously never drank a cup of coffee, has now learned of its magic: “I actually discovered coffee. I can't believe I've gone this long without coffee. I tried once or twice on TV a cup of coffee and I just didn't see the point, but now I totally get it. And now I think I'm addicted because it snaps your mind into focus. I wake up thinking, I mean, I think of my son first, but caffeine is a close second.”
“Well congratulations — for joining the team,” said Colbert. “You're a coffee achiever now.”
Anderson also revealed that he's not back together with his ex Benjamin Maisani as some have reported, but that they are still very close.
“My former partner Benjamin … is going to be a co-parent to Wyatt even though we're not together anymore,” said Anderson. “He's my family, and I want him to be Wyatt's family as well.”
The AC360 host also described, movingly, being in the room for his mother's death and being in the room when his son was born, and how it has changed him as a person.
Anderson later talked with Colbert about the coronavirus crisis.
“It's more important than ever before that things be true and accurate and it's why I'm not taking time off,” Anderson said. “I feel like this is an extraordinary time to be in this business as a reporter. … [Trump] has hijacked these coronavirus task force briefings. … It's largely the president using it as a mini-campaign rally … and at the same time giving out bogus information.”
Anderson later talked about becoming a meme after reacting during an interview with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who said she wanted to make the citizens of Vegas a control group by opening the city amid the coronavirus crisis.
