When Andy Cohen suggested that Anderson Cooper could meet someone for a drink and still be in bed by 11, Cooper was already thinking about the part that came first. Even for an early date, he’d have to find someone to watch his boys.
“I’m not looking. I’m just trying to get through the day,” Cooper told his friend on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live in December 2025, according to Just Jared.
Cooper, now 59, raises Wyatt, 6, and Sebastian, 4, with his former partner Benjamin Maisani. The two men announced their split in 2018, before either boy was born. When Cooper decided to become a father, Maisani was the person he wanted to share that job with.
Two years before his conversation with Cohen, Howard Stern offered to set Cooper up with someone. Cooper said he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been on a date. He was working nights and liked spending the hours he had at home with the boys.
How Cooper and Maisani Share Life as Daddy and Papa
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For Wyatt’s third birthday in 2023, Cooper shared a set of photographs on Instagram. The last slide was a family portrait of Cooper, Maisani and both boys. Wyatt Morgan was born via surrogate on April 27, 2020. He shares his first name with Cooper’s father, who died when the journalist was 10. Morgan comes from his mother’s side of the family.
When Cooper introduced Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper on CNN in February 2022, he said Wyatt had helped put his baby brother’s crib together. Wyatt called Cooper “Daddy” and Maisani “Papa.” Cooper also said Maisani was adopting Wyatt, who would take the same last name as Sebastian.
In a 2023 interview with People, Cooper described how they shared a home and divided the day. Maisani was there at night while Cooper worked. In the mornings, both men got up before the boys, got their milk ready and spent the first couple of hours with them. Maisani spoke to the boys in French, leaving Cooper to joke that the three of them might be plotting against him.
Cooper Gave Up His ‘60 Minutes’ Job for More Time With His Sons
Asked by Parade to name a personal highlight of 2025, Cooper picked taking Wyatt to his first day of kindergarten. He’d also been back to give a presentation in Wyatt’s classroom and had enjoyed taking Sebastian to his school.
In February 2026, Cooper announced he would leave 60 Minutes at the end of the season. He had reported for the program since the season that began in 2006 alongside his work at CNN. In a statement published by CBS News, he said he wanted to spend as much time with his sons as he could “while they want to spend time with me.” He continued to anchor Anderson Cooper 360°.
Andy Cohen’s First Phone Call With Cooper Ruled Out a Blind Date
In the 1990s, when a mutual friend tried to set them up, Cooper was a young reporter at ABC and Cohen worked for CBS. The two got on the phone to arrange a date. As Cooper told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show in 2017, he’d made up his mind about 45 seconds into the call. Cohen had already brought up Cooper’s mother, Gloria Vanderbilt.
Their social circles eventually brought them together as friends. Along with hosting CNN’s New Year’s Eve broadcast, they’ve taken their children to Disney World together. On Halloween this year, Cooper turned up in a hooded skeleton onesie to join Cohen and his family, as Bravo reported. Cohen and his boyfriend, Kevin Sobieski, dressed as Jedi, while Cohen’s son Ben went as Darth Maul and his daughter Lucy as a monarch butterfly.
The pair also interview each other in front of a live audience. In an October 28 interview with 6abc Philadelphia, Cohen said their unscripted stage show gives them room to tell stories they can’t tell on television. The two are scheduled to bring AC2 to Philadelphia’s Academy of Music on November 14.