Unarguably, Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper are among the most popularly known TV show hosts in the United States. They have enjoyed a long-spanning career in media despite having started out as interns. The TV moguls have not only taken the television industry by storm but have gone ahead to accrue huge fortune from their flourishing careers, thus becoming multi-millionaires.
Though they were initially set up on a blind date, Cohen and Anderson ended up becoming best of friends, building a friendship that has lasted for more than twenty-five years. This has prompted comparisons between them, most especially after they began co-hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live from New York City’s Time Square in 2017. As such, their fans are eager to find out who has a higher net worth amongst the two, as well as know what other similarities they share aside from their sexual orientation and profession.
Anderson Cooper was Born in 1967
Anderson Cooper is the son of Wyatt Emory Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt. His father was a famed writer while his mother was a renowned heiress who also worked as a fashion designer, writer, and actress. Cooper was born as the youngest child of his parents in Manhattan, New York City on June 3rd, 1967. He was raised alongside his older brother, Carter Vanderbilt Cooper who took his own life by jumping from his family’s 14th-floor penthouse apartment when he was 23 years old.
Cooper’s maternal great-great-great-grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, was a business tycoon who established the well-known Vanderbilt shipping and railroad fortune. He left an inflation-adjusted net worth of $185 billion at the time of his death. In 1978, Anderson Cooper lost his father, at the age of 10 and sadly, his mother passed on in June 2019. He is a graduate of a private co-educational university preparatory day school called Dalton School, situated in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan. He later studied Political Science at Yale University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1989.
Andy Cohen was Born a Year After Cooper in 1968
Andy Cohen was born to parents Lou and Evelyn Cohen in St. Louis, Missouri on June 2nd, 1968. He is a year younger than his best friend Anderson Cooper. Raised in a Jewish home, Cohen was brought up together with his sister, Emily Rosenfield. He completed his basic education from Clayton High School in the year 1986 before proceeding to attend Boston University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism.
They Are The Most Famous Openly Gay TV Personalities in The US
While at Boston University where he wrote for the university’s newspaper, The Daily Free Press, Andy Cohen identified as gay. He opened up to his parents about his sexuality in 1988. Andy kickstarted his journalism career by working as an intern at CBS News. He worked there for ten years, executing diverse roles for the news agency. He served as the senior producer of The Early Show and equally oversaw the production of other programs such as CBS This Morning and 48 Hours. He later became a member of staff of another TV network named Trio in 2000 which was eventually purchased by Bravo in 2004.
Launching his own late-night talk show, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2009, Cohen emerged as the first openly gay journalist to host an American late-night talk show. He has been hosting the talk show since then, becoming a household name.
Anderson Cooper, on the other hand, made his sexuality public in 2012. He has gone on to be ranked among the most popular journalists in the country having been serving as the host of the CNN show, Anderson Cooper 360° since 2003.
By moderating the second US presidential election debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016, Cooper emerged as the first openly gay journalist to serve as the moderator of a presidential debate in the United States general election.
Anderson Cooper’s Net Worth Is Four-times Bigger Than Andy Cohen’s
Since joining CNN, Anderson Cooper has been pocketing eye-catching figures in annual salary. In 2007, after penning a multi-year contract with the news network, his annual salary was increased from $2 million to $4 million. Recently, the multi-award-winning news anchor is said to be earning $12 million annually, as such, his estimated net worth is pegged at $200 million and this sets him above other news anchors in the US.
Although it has been speculated that his mother Gloria Vanderbilt left the majority of her estate to him, Anderson has made it clear that his mom didn’t leave him any trust fund and that the fortune he inherited from her is way below the much speculated $200 million. Whether he inherited huge wealth from his mom or not, the fact still remains that the broadcast journalist has carried out incredible works in his chosen career which has paid him handsomely over the years.
On the other hand, Andy Cohen has not done badly either, having attained an estimated net worth of $50 million. He equally earns astounding figures in annual salary, which is currently estimated at $10 million. No doubt, in the near future, Cohen would significantly step up his financial value, as he has established himself as a producer, author, and talk show host.
Cohen Made A Huge Chunk of His Money From His Work With Bravo
Andy Cohen, who is dubbed the king of Bravo, has been associated with the television network for over a decade and a half. His first role at the TV network was working as the vice president of original programming in 2004 before he was made the host of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen (WWHL) five years later. The show was first launched as a weekly midnight program before it was rebranded into a weeknight series.
WWHL is based on pop culture and has been graced by many celebrities including Ryan Seacrest, John Legend, and Tyra Banks. It aired its 1,000th episode in March 2016 and has now run for 17 seasons. The late-night talk show was renewed for additional seasons that will run throughout 2021 on December 9th, 2019.
Aside from hosting WWHL on Bravo, Andy Cohen has also made remarkable waves in the TV industry as the producer and host of Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise. He has also co-hosted numerous TV shows throughout his career such as The View, Love Connection, and Live! with Kelly. He also upgraded his journalism portfolio by serving as the host of beauty pageants, including Miss USA 2011, Miss Universe 2011, Miss USA 2012, and Miss Universe 2012.
In 2015, Andy Cohen established a SiriusXM radio channel called Radio Andy on channel 102. He has hosted shows such as Andy Cohen’s Deep & Shallow, Andy Cohen Live, as well as a special broadcast in the presence of a live studio audience titled Town Halls on the station. Additionally, the Missouri native dabbles as an actor and has appeared as himself in several TV series. They include Alpha House (2014), The Comeback (2014), Inside Amy Schumer (2016), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2017), Riverdale (2018), and The Other Two (2019).
Cooper’s Longtime Stint With CNN
The famous AC360 anchor actually got involved with media at an early age as he first appeared on Harper’s Bazaar when he was a baby. He subsequently graced The Tonight Show at the age of three when his mom was featured as a guest. Between 10 and 13 years old, he got associated with Ford Models, modeling for the likes of Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. After experiencing the loss of his father and older brother, he decided to toil the path of journalism. He first had an internship program at the Central Intelligence Agency before being recruited as a fact-checker by news agency, Channel One.
Later in 1995, Anderson Cooper joined ABC News, working as a correspondent. Four years later, he rose through the ranks to begin co-hosting World News Now on the station. He took to hosting gigs in the year 2000, serving as the host of the reality show The Mole on ABC News Channel. He hosted the show for two seasons before switching back to broadcast news by joining CNN in 2001, after the occurrence of the 9/11 bombing which ignited his interest in broadcast journalism. He later served as the co-anchor of American Morning before gaining widespread recognition for working as the host of CNN’s New Year Eve Special in 2002, as well as the network’s weekend primetime anchor.
"There's no such thing as a quick and dirty strike on Iran's nuclear capacity," That is the start of a very costly and sustained war," warns former United States ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice. https://t.co/76qgjWHKrO pic.twitter.com/i86JfHpObR
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) November 17, 2020
In the next year, the proficient journalist was made the host of Anderson Cooper 360° and has been anchoring the broadcast news program since then. So far, he has covered many major stories on the show, including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the demise of Pope John Paul II, Destruction caused by the tsunami in Sri Lanka, the Niger famine, Beirut’s Cedar Revolution, and Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles’ royal wedding. His roles in the news agency got expanded in 2005 when he joined CNN’s NewsNight as a co-anchor, with his addition skyrocketing the show’s rating.
Meanwhile, from 2010 to 2013, Anderson Cooper hosted a syndicated talk show titled Anderson Live which was distributed in the United States and Canada by Warner Bros. Television. Unfortunately, the show was canceled after two seasons due to poor ratings. Cooper has further hosted other shows on CNN such as Planet in Peril documentary, CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, and thee 2016 presidential debates. He additionally works as a correspondent for the CBS news program, 60 Minutes, a role he has been executing since 2007.
Like his friend Andy Cohen, the New Yorker has some acting credits to his name. He has starred in movies such as Chappie (2015), The 33 (2015), and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen Have Worked Together On Multiple Occasions
Despite working for separate TV networks, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen have landed the rare opportunity of co-hosting shows together down the years. In 2017, the WWHL host replaced Kathy Griffin as the co-host of CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage from Times Square in New York City. The duo has since turned the show into a memorable one as they co-hosted it in 2018, 2019, and 2020. They will further showcase their amazing journalistic talent on 2021 New Year’s Eve.
More so, the best friends have been co-hosting a conversational stage show titled AC2 since 2015. Following the launching of the show that depicts the enviable chemistry between the two, Anderson and Andy embarked on a national tour in March 2015, performing in cities like Boston, Atlanta, Miami Beach, and Chicago. They have so far toured across over fifty cities in the United States.
Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper are New York Times Best-Selling Authors
Interestingly, the two media personalities have written several books that have made multiple bestseller lists. In addition to his roles at CNN, as well as CBS, Anderson Cooper has been working as a freelance writer for years. His writings have gained publications in a number of magazines, including Details Magazine. He authored his first book, an autobiography entitled “Dispatches from the Edge” in May 2006 and it became a New York Times best-selling book the following month. Later in 2017, he wrote his second book, “The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss” together with his mom, and it was listed on several bestseller lists that same year.
In like manner, Andy Cohen has penned multiple New York Times best-selling books. His first book, an autobiographical memoir entitled “Most Talkative” was published in May 2012 and it made the list of New York Times bestsellers in different categories, including paperback, hardcover, and combined nonfiction. His second memoir, “The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year” was published in November 2014 and was also a New York Times best-selling book. Cohen published another New York Times bestseller, “Superficial: More Adventures From the Andy Cohen Diaries” in 2016 through Henry Holt and Company.
Their Careers Have Been Embellished With Many Prestigious Awards
Best-known for their work ethic and professionalism, Cohen and Cooper have additionally made waves in the TV industry as a result of their career achievements. Throughout their careers in media, the two have been recipients of numerous accolades, though Cooper seemed to have taken home more awards than his counterpart.
List of Anderson Cooper’s awards include:
- 18 Emmy Awards, one of which was for his coverage of Princess Diana’s funeral
- Six GLAAD Media Awards
- Two Peabody Awards
- National Headliner Awards
- Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award
- National Order of Honour and Merit
- Overseas Press Club Awards
- Lew Klein Awards
- Yale Undergraduate Lifetime Achievement Award
- Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism
List of Andy Cohen’s awards include:
- One Emmy Award for Outstanding Competitive Reality Series following his work as the executive producer of Top Chef.
- Two Peabody Awards for working as the executive producer of Trio documentary, The N-Word, as well as Bravo reality TV show, Project Runway.
- GLAAD Media’s Vito Russo Award
The King of Bravo Has Had a More Colorful Dating Life Than The Richest News Anchor
With regards to their love lives, Andy Cohen has been linked to many more romantic partners than Cooper. He dated actor and producer John Hill several years back and also had an encounter with Lance Bass before the singer exchanged marital vows with Michael Turchin. He was also rumored to have dated hockey player Sean Avery in 2013. Later in 2016, the talented producer had a short-lived affair with a Harvard Ph.D. student named Clifton Dassuncao.
Afterward, it was speculated that he was dating John Mayer, with the two having been sighted together in public on many occasions at the time. Nonetheless, the radio host went on to debunk the rumor in 2018, stating that he only shares a strong friendship bond with the musician and nothing else.
Unlike Cohen, Anderson Cooper is known to have dated gay bar owner Benjamin Maisani for a long time. The two hooked up in 2009 and then made the relationship public six years later. They got separated in 2018 but have remained close friends to date. Following the separation, Anderson Cooper briefly dated a medical doctor named Victor Lopez but hasn’t been linked to any other person since then.
Both Men Each Have a Son Through Surrogacy
In December 2018, Cohen announced that he would become a father in the next year, and on February 4th, 2019, his son Benjamin Allen Cohen was born with the aid of a surrogate. The proud father has never been shy of sharing his joy of fatherhood with his fans since the arrival of Ben. He also inspired and encouraged his good friend Anderson Cooper to follow in his footsteps which he also did.
The CNN news anchor welcomed his own son, Wyatt Morgan Cooper, through surrogacy on April 27th, 2020. He named his son after his father, Wyatt Cooper, and maternal grandmother, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt. He has been co-parenting Wyatt with his former partner, Benjamin Maisani since his birth. Amazingly, both Cohen and Cooper have devoted their time to raising their sons and are yet to find the love of their lives. As such, both men are still single but are quite hopeful they will tie the knot in the coming years.
A Quick Comparison of The Two A-list Media Personalities
| Andy Cohen | Anderson Cooper | |
| Age | 55 Years Old | 56 Years Old |
| Height | 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) | 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) |
| Salaries/Earnings | $10 Million | $12 Million |
| Net Worth | $50 Million | $200 Million |
| Work Place | Bravo | CNN |
| Relationship Status | Single | Single |
| Children | 1 – Benjamin Allen Cohen | 1 – Wyatt Morgan Cooper |
