Anderson Cooper reveals his mom Gloria Vanderbilt offered to be his surrogate— aged 85

Gloria Vanderbilt has redefined the meaning of doing anything for your child. During a guest appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Anderson Cooper revealed a previously never-before-told conversation he had with his late mother.

Anderson's mother had the "nutty" idea to be his surrogate and carry his child at 85-years-old. The offer may have been out of good intentions, but the 54-year-old journalist couldn't help but tell his mother how "bats**t crazy" the idea was.

"I finally said to her, I was like, 'Mom, I love you, but even for you, that is just bats**t crazy. That is just nuts,'" he told Stephen. "That is so weirdly oedipal on a whole new level. That kid would be on the cover of The New York Post for the rest of its life." 

According to Anderson, his mother even went as far as going to her gynecologist to see if it was still possible for her to carry a baby. Turns out, even at age 85 she still could.

Two years after the strange conversation between the two, the CNN journalist explained that Gloria attempted to make a case for it again.

"Fast forward two years later, I get a thing in the mail that my mom has sent me, ‘cause that’s how we communicated, and it’s a newspaper clipping, and it’s a photograph, the headline is ‘Grandmother bears child for son,’” he explained.

His mother eventually passed away at the age of 95 back in 2019. Throughout the years, Anderson described his relationship with his mother as "unique." The two were close, he explained saying her strange antics even helped him in his career.

“You know, sometimes people wonder how during interviews I just stay, like, stone-faced and listen to people say bats**t crazy things. I grew up with Gloria Vanderbilt,” he said.

Having a baby wasn't completely out of the cards though. Anderson eventually welcomed his first child, Wyatt Morgan Cooper, with ex-partner Benjamin Maisani back in 2020. Their son was born via a surrogate—and no, it wasn't Anderson's mother.