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See all the Stars Who Have Welcomed A Baby in 2024!
When Andy Cohenbecame a father in February 2019, Anderson Cooperwas instantly elevated to uncle status.
"Uncle Anderson got an exclusive," Cohen captioned a photo from the moment his friend of 30 years met his infant son Benjamin Allen Cohen, who was born via surrogate.
"I could stare at @bravoandy's son all day long," Cooper captioned his own post from the day."And i sort of want to be swaddled too."
Instead, the Anderson Cooper 360hostdecided the time was finally right to do the swaddling. And when hissonWyatt Morgan Maisani-Cooperwas born(also via surrogate) in April 2020, Cohen scored the big first interview.
"Ben, this is Wyatt. This is Wyatt Cooper. He's gonna be your good buddy," the Bravohost said as the pair virtually introduced their boys on Watch What Happens Live."That's gonna be your good buddy and we're gonna travel together. And if you like him half as much as I like his daddy, you're gonna be great friends."
And the rest is doting-dad history.
"It's been such a journey and it's been so interesting trying to just figure out how to do everything," Cohen told Jimmy Fallon onThe Tonight Show when Ben was 2 months old. Even just the art of leaving the house, "I'm like, 'How do I do this? How do I take him outside?'"
Once he figured it out, "Sometimes, I take the stroller out without the kid," joked the Real Housewivesproducer, rhapsodizing over the storage capabilitythat came with hisbaby's mode of transport.
Cooper, a famously unenthusiastic, food-is-fuel eater, admittedlywondered, "How do you feed your kids?"
"Literally this was a concern of mine," he said on SiriusXM'sAndy Cohen Live June 13. "Like, I don't know how I will make three meals a day for them and actually keep them fed. That was a hurdle for me to overcome."
Not surprisingly, the guy who's reported from war zones and during natural disasters eventually mastered scrambled eggs andother "basic stuff for breakfast" and "basic pastas and stuff like that" for dinner."It's actually possible," Cooper said. (And a woman who helped care forhis late mom, Gloria Vanderbilt, also comes in once a week to meal prep "so there's healthy stuff in the fridge, like salmon—the kids love salmon—and vegetables.")
"It's been wild for me to see the domestic side of you," Cohen noted, explaining, "I don't see you interact with food products very much, so it is interesting for me sociologically."
And both palsdoubled down on domesticity:Wyatt's little brotherSebastian LukeMaisani-Cooperwas born inFebruary 2022, two months before Cohen welcomed daughter Lucy Eve Cohen.
Parenting "has changed me in every way," Cohen told Cooper on CBS Sunday Morningin May 2023, joking when he sat down with his BFF that the veteran journalist was about to do his "Barbara Walters-Jedi thing" on him. "I think my priorities have completely shifted. I think my sense of accomplishment has totally changed. And even just getting your kids breakfast and getting them out to school, when I drop him off at school, I'm like, 'You did it, dude!'"
The 56-year-old author ofDaddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Upalso shared that, once he was ready to have children, the idea of being a single dad (albeit one with plenty of help) didn't faze him.
"I just thought," Cohen said, "I wanna do this. And I'm doing it. And I know it's gonna be really hard, and I don't know what that actually means."
Anderson Cooper/Instagram
Along with the surplus of joy, it did ultimately mean finding out what dad guilt felt like. "If I spend three hours with Ben, and then I have to go to work, you know, you're at work, and you're like, 'Did I spend enough time with Ben today?'" he explained. "If Ben tells me that I'm his best friend or he grabs for my hand to hold it, or he cuddles me extra tight, I mean, there's not gonna be a bigger win in my day than that."
And Cooper would concur that being Wyatt and Sebastian's dad is now his most towering achievement, the 57-year-oldtellingPeople last September there had been so many "moments of such bliss, humor and gentleness and sheer delight that it stuns me."
"This is the best time in my life," the CNN anchoradded."There is no doubt about it."
Hesaid coparenting and living with ex-partner Benjamin Maisanidespite their breakup in 2018 felt "very natural," noting their complementary schedules.
"I work nights, and so he's there at night," Cooper explained. "And we both wake up right before they wake up, get them their milk and spend the first couple of hours of the day just us with them. And Benjamin speaks French to them. I have no idea what they're saying. I think they're plotting against me."
But there's safety in numbers, and Cohen and Cooper of course have each otheras they navigate the wilds of parenting.
Anderson Cooper/Instagram
"Hanging out with @bravoandy and the little ones," Cooper captioned an April picof the pair withWyatt and Ben perched on their respective shoulders. "No better way to spend the day."
Wrote Cohen on his page, "Every day is Father's Day! #AC4."
And there's no need to wait until New Year's Eve to toast the joys of fatherhood, so read on for more of Cooper and Cohen's sweetest dad moments: