Proud Son! See Anderson Cooper’s Most Touching Quotes About Late Mom Gloria Vanderbilt

On Writing a Joint Memoir Together

“When my mom turned 91, I wanted to use the time that we have left in our lives to get to know each other as adults,” Anderson told People in 2016, explaining why the two teamed up to write The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son Talk About Life, Love, and Loss. “I realized I didn’t want there to be anything left unsaid with my mom, I didn’t want there to be questions that I still had about who she was and what her life was like. And I didn’t want her to have questions about me as an adult.”

On Coping Together Following Brother Carter’s Death

The TV star once candidly spoke on his brother Carter’s tragic 1988 death. Anderson said although his family was heartbroken when his beloved brother died by suicide at the age of 23, the loss strengthened his relationship with his mom.

“I think it obviously brought us together in ways and I think you can’t help but come closer going through something like that, and, you know, it left us with each other,” he told People. “And, I think it’s still hard to believe it’s been so long because I think it’s still so present in our lives, that sense of loss.”

On Gloria’s Love for Life

“She’s like Henry VIII and I’m like his adviser, Cromwell,” the doting son once gushed to reporters at an event. “I think she does have this incredibly optimistic way of looking at things. She really believes the next great love is right around the corner, and there’s Mom’s guy on a boat in the Mediterranean just waiting to whisk her away. That very well may be … nothing would surprise me with my mom. But she’s the most youthful person I know.”

On Talking To Gloria About His Sexuality

Decades before Anderson announced he was gay in 2012, he sat down and had the conversation with his mom. Although Gloria was accepting of her son’s sexuality, he told People he “regretted” the discussion for years.

“I came out to my friends in high school, but it wasn’t until I was 21, I think, that I came out to my mom,” he said. “And it was interesting because we had never discussed it after I’d come out. She accepted it and met boyfriends I had and life continued, but we never talked about the actual moment that I had come out to her because we both had different perceptions and understandings of what I had said.”

Anderson said he used the phrase “I think I am” while talking to his mom and “immediately regretted” it as Gloria perceived him to be “unsure.” While their conversation was a little uncomfortable, there’s no doubt the former artist supported her son to the fullest extent.

“Love is love,” she once gushed. “There is no difference.”

On His Incredible Childhood

Growing up as the son of a well known New York City socialite proved to have its upsides. The journalist opened up about his incredible childhood while chatting with People in 2016.

“If famous people were coming over to the house, like Charlie Chaplin or Truman Capote, we would be sitting at the table next to them,” he said at the time. “There wasn’t a kids’ table. We weren’t sort of shunted off somewhere. We would be expected to kind of learn about who was coming and watch their movies and be able to converse with them.”

“In many ways, she was amazing as a mom because she was completely different from any other mom that I knew,” he continued. “There were times I wanted a more conventional mom … that idealization of other people’s moms would last a very short time. I would start to feel smothered and would be eager to go back to my house because my mom was much more creative and interesting and unconventional.”

On Gloria’s Strength

In his touching eulogy following Gloria’s death, Anderson highlighted how his mother was a resilient and fierce woman.

“She was the strongest person I’ve ever met, but she wasn’t tough,” he said. “She never developed a thick skin to protect herself from hurt. She wanted to feel it all. She wanted to feel life’s pleasures, its pains as well. She trusted too freely, too completely, and suffered tremendous losses. But she always pressed on, always worked hard, always believed the best was yet to come.”

On Honoring Her Memory

The political commentator paid tribute to his mom’s first birthday in Heaven in February 2020. “I’ve slowly been going through boxes of photos and files. My mom kept every note, every letter she ever received,” Anderson wrote via Instagram. “It is sad going through everything, but also brings back many amazing memories. Happy birthday, mom. You will always be in my heart.”

On Telling Gloria About His Plans for Parenthood

While Gloria never got the chance to meet her grandson, Wyatt, Anderson revealed she knew of his plans to become a dad before she passed.

“I was able to tell her shortly before she died that I was going to have a baby,” the Anderson Cooper 360 star shared during an episode of Live With Kelly and Ryan. “[My son], Wyatt, hadn’t been created, was not a being at that point, but I had the idea in my head. I was in the process.”