Anderson Cooper became a dad when he was almost 60 and had already broken up with Benjamin Maisani, his long-term boyfriend. But the two ex-lovers got back together, but not as lovers.

Anderson Cooper and Benjamin Maisani kept their relationship so quiet that no one knew they were dating for years. In 2009, they began going out together.

The Daily Mail reported in March 2018 that the couple was living together at Anderson’s firehouse home. The Greenwich Village home in Manhattan that he bought for $4 million was then fixed up.

Anderson and Benjamin didn’t tell anyone they were seeing each other until May 2015. At the time, the CNN news anchor posted a picture of himself and Benjamin on Instagram with the caption:

“I guess when you’re with someone for a long time, you start to look alike.”

After that, Anderson began to talk about his relationship more. So much so that he and his boyfriend were in an issue of Architectural Digest together in August 2016.

At the time, the couple was showing off their home in a remote part of Brazil that they owned together. In 2014, Benjamin talked to French Morning about how much attention he and Anderson were getting because of their relationship.

He also talked about why they had tried so hard to keep it secret for so long. The businessman said he understood why people were so interested in their relationship, but he didn’t feel the same way.

Benjamin said that, unlike most people, he had never thought about or wanted to be famous. He said that he knew from the start that if he told people about the relationship, the attention could get out of hand.

After 10 years of dating, Anderson and Benjamin broke up in March 2018. A spokesperson for Anderson confirmed this. Reports say that the CNN anchor said the following about the split:

“We broke up as boyfriend and girlfriend a long time ago. We still love each other very much because we are related.”

Anderson said that he and his ex-boyfriend were still best friends and that they would keep living together. During an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, the TV star said that one of the reasons why they broke up was because of that.

He talked about how Benjamin wasn’t sure if he wanted kids. But Anderson didn’t wait until he found another partner to work on his dream of becoming a father, which he did at the age of 53.

Anderson told the end of his CNN show in 2020 that his first child, a son named Wyatt Morgan, had just been born. He also talked about why the accomplishment was so important to him, saying:

“When I was a gay kid, I never thought I could have a child.”

The star talked about how grateful he was to the people who helped him reach his goal. He also said how grateful he was to the nurses and doctors who helped bring his son into the world.

The TV star also posted four new photos of his baby boy on Instagram. The first photo shows him lovingly feeding Wyatt from a bottle. In the caption for the post, he said that the boy was only three days old at the time.

He said that the child’s first name was the same as that of his own father, who had passed away when he was only ten years old. The second name came from his mother Gloria Vanderbilt’s side of the family, and both of his parents liked it.

Anderson said at the time that he had found a list of names his parents had made 52 years earlier when they were trying to decide what to call him. Wyatt weighed 7.2 lbs when he was born and was said to be “sweet, soft, and healthy.”

The journalist also thanked the woman who carried his son, cared for him with love and kindness, and gave birth to the boy. He also thanked the family of the surrogate for their help during the process and afterward.

Anderson ended by saying he wished his mom, dad, and brother Carter were still alive so they could meet his son. But he chose to think that they could see his child, and he imagined them laughing and smiling while holding hands.

He was happy to know that he and Wyatt still loved each other and that their love would live on through their children. Anderson heard in August 2020 that Wyatt’s sleep schedule was strange for a child who was almost four months old at the time.

The baby slept for 12 hours every night when it was a newborn. The CNN anchor said he was being helped by a nurse and joked that he didn’t know what the nurse did to make the boy sleep so much, but it wasn’t whiskey or Ambien.

Even though he had help taking care of the child, Anderson had one requirement. The star said he didn’t want his child to be raised by just one parent.

Anderson talked about why he didn’t want to raise his child by himself on “The Howard Stern Show” in May 2020. After his father passed away, the star noticed that his mother, who raised him and his brother on her own, wasn’t a very good parent.

He wished that there had been another adult there to fill that space. Someone who would occasionally offer to take him to lunch or a baseball game or suggest that they talk to him, and the journalist would add:

“So I thought, ‘Well, if something happens to me—or even if it doesn’t—and more people love and care about my son, I’m all for that.'”

He said that, if it were possible, he thought it would be good to have two parents. Even though he and Benjamin broke up, they got along well enough that they continued to live together in their home.

Anderson said that what was going on between him and the owner of the nightclub was “weird.” Even though Benjamin didn’t want to have kids at first, he’d changed his mind and was now a great co-parent to Wyatt.

In August 2020, Anderson told WSJ magazine that becoming a father had made him more awake. He talked about how, even though he was 53 at the time, he felt like he was waiting for his real-life to start.

The star said that he had always been focused on getting somewhere or telling a story, but that focusing on Wyatt gave everything a sense of order. “It’s changed everything,” the news anchor said.

Anderson also used to wake up late because he worked night shifts, but since Wyatt came along, he now gets up at 7 a.m. He wanted to get up before his son did because that was the most important part of his day.

Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper, who weighed 6.8 pounds when he was born, would also have Benjamin Maisani as a parent.
When he saw the little boy, he loved to see him stretch and smile. Anderson went to his son’s room on the fourth floor from the third floor. He waited for his son to let him know he was awake by making noises, then went in to check on him.

The TV star told People magazine in June 2020 that he was open to having more children in the future. But first, he needed to get a better night’s sleep and clear his head!

He thought it would be great if Wyatt had a sister or brother. Then, in February 2022, Anderson Cooper said on “Anderson Cooper 360°” that his surrogate had given birth to another son, Sebastian Luke Maisani-Cooper.

The baby, who weighed 6.8 pounds when it was born, would also be raised by Benjamin and his wife. The star also said that his ex-girlfriend was adopting Wyatt and that the boy’s last name would be changed to Maisani-Cooper.

But after Wyatt was born in December 2020, Anderson said that he was “more tired than I’ve ever been.” But he loved being a dad and said he “wouldn’t change it for the world.” Seeing his son made him cry a lot.