Anderson Cooper Pays Tribute to Brother Carter on Anniversary of His Death

Anderson Cooper is paying tribute to his late brother, Carter, on the 35th anniversary of his death. Taking to Instagram, the CNN anchor shared some old photos of his elder brother, including one of the two of them together. “It is 35 years today since my brother, Carter Cooper, died,” the 56-year-old father of two wrote in the post’s caption. “I think of him, and miss him, every day.”

Many of Anderson’s followers have since commented on his post, with one person offering, “What a handsome man. So sorry he isn’t here with you today. He would be so proud of you Anderson.” SNL alum Molly Shannon added, “The memory of your brother Carter Cooper lives on…. And such an honor to be on your podcast about grief.” Someone else wrote, “Thinking of you today with empathy and sorrow for your losses. But with the upmost respect for the way you treat others and your incredible volume of work. I’m so glad you have your own little boys to fill your heart with love.”

Notably, in a 2022 episode of his CNN podcast, All There Is With Anderson Cooper, the journalist opened up about the deaths of his brother and father — both of whom took their own lives — and how the losses impacted him. “Both of their deaths really changed me forever,” Cooper said. “I feel like a shadow of the person I was or was meant to be. After the shock of my dad’s death, I withdrew deep into myself. And 10 years later, when my brother died, I went deeper still.”

Cooper recorded the podcast while walking through the home of his late mother Gloria Vanderbilt, who died in 2019. “This place has a lot of memories for me. A lot of memories of people who are no longer here. Just coming here, frankly, is hard,” he said while walking the house’s halls. “I find it hard to talk about my dad and my brother,” he noted. “It’s been 34 years since Carter’s suicide and the violence of it, the horror of it, it stuns me still.”

Being a father of two sons himself, Cooper has also shared how his experience has affected his parenting. “I was really worried about this. When I was growing up, when I came, my brother was like two years and four months older and every childhood photo I have is I’m very happy as a little baby and my brother’s chewing the inside of his lip,” Cooper quipped during a previous appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

He added, “With Wyatt, I’ve gone a different tact. I’m doing a slow roll with Sebastian. I didn’t want Wyatt’s life to suddenly cataclysmically change… Wyatt’s not on top of him every day. We go out a lot and stuff.”