Two things have changed Anderson Cooper’s life for the better: hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve show and becoming a dad.
Cooper joined SiriusXM’s Bruce Bozzi on his show “Quarantined with Bruce” on Friday and shared how, prior to hosting CNN’s annual broadcast, he actually “hated” the holiday.
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“My dad died a couple of days after New Year’s Eve, January 5th in 1978,” Cooper explained. “And so I remember that New Year’s Eve distinctly, ’cause he was in the hospital and it was so terrifying and it was just, it would kind of ruin New Year’s Eve for me from then on, it sort of became this night of terror basically, and sadness.”
But in 2002, CNN “needed somebody” to host their New Year’s Eve broadcast, and Cooper volunteered: “It’s such a bad night to go out in New York generally, you know, like you couldn’t find a cab traditionally or the lines at a coat check of a club would be really long. And so I just started working it and I actually found out I love being in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.”
Cooper also spoke of how fatherhood has fundamentally changed his life.
“I just feel like this is absolutely what I should be doing. And I mean, I wish I had done it sooner…,” Cooper said. “I mean, all my time with him really during this pandemic and it’s been amazing. And I can’t, I’ve never like woken up early in the morning. I now bolt out of bed at 7 o’clock without an alarm clock or 6:30. And I want to be there when he wakes up at 8:45 […].”
Cooper gushed, “I just love every aspect of it and it’s just truly the greatest thing ever. And I sort of just feel like I, what was I doing before?”
SiriusXM’s “Quarantined with Bruce” with special guest Anderson Cooper airs Friday, December 18, at 1 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy and will be available on the SiriusXM app.
