Anderson Cooper is the father of son, Wyatt, 1, but if his mother had her way, she would’ve carried a baby for him.
The CNN anchor says his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, who died in 2019 at the age of 95, once offered to carry a baby for him when she was 85 years old after having gone to visit her gynecologist.
“'She told me the most amazing thing. She told me I could still bear a child,’” he recalled her telling him about her doctor's visit while on Thursday’s episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
Cooper thought this was pretty wild, but didn’t want to rain on her parade.
“I’m sitting there and I’m thinking, ‘OK, don’t be negative, but how do I convince my 85-year-old mom not to have a child right now?’” he said.
Cooper tried to be supportive and encouraged her to think about it and take some time when mulling over the possibility of having another child at an advanced age. It turns out, though, she wasn’t interested in having a baby for her. She wanted to have one for him.
“She says to me, ‘Honey, I’m not talking about having a child of my own. I mean, that’s crazy. I’m 85,’” he said, while noting his relief.
“She’s like, ‘Well, you know you can get an egg anywhere nowadays.’ I was like, ‘Uh-huh.’ She’s like, ‘Well, what I was thinking is you get an egg and, you know, fertilize it with your sperm and I’ll carry your child,” he said, as the audience howled and Colbert looked on in disbelief.
“I was just stunned,” he said. “And I finally said to her, ‘You know, Mom, I love you, but even for you, that is just bat---- crazy. That’s just nuts.”
Vanderbilt didn’t give up on the idea, either. Two years later, she sent Cooper a newspaper clipping about a grandmother who gave birth to a baby for her son. The article featured a photo of the son and his husband waiting for the baby in the delivery room.
“And my mom has circled it and then written in a note, ‘See?’” he said.
Things appear to have worked out for Cooper. He and former partner Benjamin Maisani co-parent Wyatt, who they welcomed via surrogate in 2020.
“It’s probably an unusual setup, but I knew he would be a great dad, and he is,” Cooper told People earlier this month. “We’re exes, but we’re family to each other, and we love each other as family and as co-parents. ...
“There’s the usual bickering that any two people have when there’s a kid involved, like what time should he go to swimming class, or should he wear the overalls or whatever,” he added. “But all silly, minor things. We get along great.”