CNN anchor Anderson Cooper’s journey as a father will be the subject of his next project. Parental Guidance with Anderson Cooper will be a weekly show available on the cable news network’s CNN+ streaming platform. Cooper welcomed his son Wyatt Morgan Cooper via surrogate in April 2020 and is co-parenting with his former partner, nightclub owner Benjamin Maisani.
Parental Guidance will follow Cooper as he interviews experts about navigating life as a working father and “confront everyday parenting challenges from sleep schedules to screen time,” CNN said in a statement. “Cooper will learn alongside the audience, taking questions to the experts for their advice.” Cooper’s digital series Anderson Cooper: Full Circle, a twice-weekly show in which Cooper answers viewers’ questions, will also join CNN+’s live programming. The streaming platform is set to debut in the first quarter of 2022, reports Variety.
Videos by PopCulture.com
In April 2020, Cooper announced on air that his son Wyatt was born via a surrogate. “On Monday, I became a father,” Cooper said in an emotional moment. “I’ve never actually said that before, and it still kind of astonishes me. I am a dad. I have a son and I want you to meet him.”
“As a gay kid, I never thought it would be possible to have a child, and I’m grateful for all those who have paved the way,” Cooper continued. “It is an extraordinary blessing – what she, and all surrogates, give to families who can’t have children.” Since sharing the news, Cooper has continued providing viewers with updates about Wyatt.
Cooper spent New Year’s Eve alongside Bravo personality Andy Cohen for CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live broadcast, which turned out to be an adventure. Cohen shocked viewers when he went on a drunken rant that included criticisms of outgoing New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Ryan Seacrest, who was hosting ABC’s competing New Year’s Eve show at the time. Cohen has since expressed regret for criticizing Seacrest, whom he called a “great guy.”
Cohen’s comments reportedly “embarrassed” CNN staffers and Radar Online reported Cohen was fired from co-hosting the next New Year’s Eve broadcast with Cooper. However, CNN said they would welcome him back. “Andy said something he shouldn’t have on live TV. We’ve addressed it with him and look forward to having him back again next year,” a CNN spokesperson told E! News.
