Like mother, like son. Anderson Cooper grew up in one of
America’s most famous families, and now he’s revealing intimate new details
about his storied life with mom Gloria Vanderbilt. Speaking with Us Weekly's
Ashley Spencer at the Us Weekly Video Lounge at ChefDance at the Sundance Film
Festival, the CNN anchor and director Liz Garbus opened up about their HBO
documentary, Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper, and
waxed nostalgic about Cooper's far-from-ordinary upbringing.
“I never viewed my mom as a traditional mom. My mom took
me to Studio 54 when I was 11 years old — twice," the 48-year-old
journalist said of New York City's infamous nightclub. “I’ve looked into it. I
know it’s illegal. This was like ‘quaaludes in basements’ Studio 54.”
Despite his unconventional childhood, Cooper developed
and maintained a close bond with his mother, now 91.
“The heart of it and what really sold me that there was a
special film [to be made] was the relationship between Anderson and Gloria,”
Academy Award–nominated Garbus said of the doc, which also details how the
tragedies of losing Cooper's author father, Wyatt Emory Cooper, at age 50
during open-heart surgery, and later his 23-year-old brother, Carter, to
suicide in 1988, shaped the heiress and her family.
“For me, it’s just asking her all the questions that I’d
never asked her before," Cooper said of his desire to executive produce
the film. "I think it’s the kind of conversation a lot of people would
like to have with their parents, to leave nothing unsaid."
As for whether the Anderson Cooper 360 host considers
himself a mama's boy?
“Well, let’s see, I’m a gay guy who made a film about his
mom,” he said. “That’s probably the definition of a mama’s boy.”
The HBO documentary Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt
& Anderson Cooper is currently at the Sundance Film Festival and will debut
on HBO on April 9.
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