Andy Cohen was being celebrated for his television career when he shared his 7-year-old son Benjamin’s much shorter take on the job. “Ben knows that I have a show and he thinks I’m funny,” he told PEOPLE, adding, “that’s good for me.”
The 58-year-old spoke at the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame gala on Sept. 29. The industry organization inducted him as a host, executive producer and author, recognizing work that has taken him from network offices to late-night television.
Anderson Cooper introduced his longtime friend at New York’s Ziegfeld Ballroom, as TV Tech documented. The ceremony was the organization’s 34th annual gala.
Cohen hosts and executive-produces Watch What Happens Live, produces The Real Housewives and moderates its reunions. He is also raising 4-year-old daughter Lucy, while Bravo now lists his late-night show in its 23rd season.
A Low-Budget Aftershow Put Cohen on Camera
Cohen’s earlier jobs included producing segments for CBS News and overseeing programming at the cable network Trio. His route to hosting began with a live Real Housewives of New Jersey watch party streamed on AOL. Bravo then decided to produce inexpensive aftershows for its original programs, and its programming executive became the person asking the questions. Former Bravo chief Lauren Zalaznick recalled that transition in Jon Lafayette’s Hall of Fame profile.
When the network wanted the talk show to run five nights a week, Cohen left his position overseeing current programming, executive Frances Berwick told Lafayette. He retained his producing responsibilities while taking on the expanded hosting schedule.
Cooper described a television fixation that went back much further. He had read letters Cohen sent home from summer camp asking his mother to save a copy of PEOPLE with Cher on the cover. Cohen said his childhood fantasy was to “be myself on television.”
His work as a Bravo executive included overseeing Top Chef, Project Runway and Million Dollar Listing, according to the event’s official biography. He won a Primetime Emmy for Top Chef in 2010. His projects beyond television include the SiriusXM channels Radio Andy and Andy Cohen’s Kiki Lounge, a publishing imprint and several books.
Ben Has Visited the Set and Turned Away a Selfie Seeker
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In February 2024, Cohen posted a photograph of Ben hugging him on the Watch What Happens Live set. “Had a visitor at work,” read the caption accompanying Charles Sykes’ photograph, PEOPLE reported.
Ben had turned 5 earlier that month. In a 2023 CBS Sunday Morning interview, Cohen said Ben calling him his best friend could feel like his day’s biggest accomplishment.
Another February 2024 story concerned a less welcoming encounter with a fan. On his Daddy Diaries podcast, Cohen recalled laughing when Ben proposed shooing away strangers who recognized him.
He then tried teaching his son to explain that Cohen was his father and politely request privacy. Moments later, a man approached for a selfie. Ben stuck with his original response: “Get out of here!” The exchange appeared in PEOPLE‘s contemporaneous coverage.
Cohen’s Mother Urged Him to Stop Showing the Children’s Faces
In November 2023, Cohen discussed reconsidering how much of his children to show on social media. “People need to understand that my kids are not me and they didn’t sign up for this,” he told TODAY, in comments published by Life & Style.
His mother, Evelyn, had repeatedly encouraged him to stop displaying Ben’s face and asked when he would do the same with Lucy. He was using emojis to obscure his son’s face in some posts and said he was considering a similar change for his daughter. One Thanksgiving photograph showed Ben meeting Cher with an emoji covering his face. Evelyn was there for the meeting, too.
Evelyn also gave him unfiltered feedback about the program itself. In a separate PEOPLE interview in December 2021, Cohen said she would text after Watch What Happens Live to criticize a show or tell him the guests were boring. Her willingness to say so made the favorable messages count: “But when she texts, ‘That was a great show,’ I know she means it.”
Darth Vader’s Ending Got a Different Review From Ben
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After watching Return of the Jedi in May 2025, Ben objected to Darth Vader dying. Cohen tried explaining that Luke Skywalker had redeemed his father, according to PEOPLE. In the video, Ben answered from off camera as his dad attempted to talk him through the ending.
When Cohen acknowledged the death, Ben replied, “Yes, that’s what I’m talking about, thank you!”. Cohen posted the exchange on May 4 with the caption “He hated the ending!”
For Halloween that October, Ben dressed as Vader. Cohen shared photographs of him in costume on the family’s balcony and inside their apartment, PEOPLE reported. Over one picture, he wrote, “Watch out, New York City!!!!”