Anderson Cooper: Why I Won’t Leave My Son An Inheritance

The New Diplomat
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Just like his mom, CNN Anchor, Anderson Cooper has revealed that he does not plan to leave his wealth to his son, Wyatt.

It would be recalled Cooper only inherited less than $1.5 million from his late mom Gloria Vanderbilt’s estate and sprawling wealth after she died in 2019.

“I don’t believe in passing on huge amounts of money,” Cooper, 54, told Air Mail’s Ashley Baker and Michael Hainey on Saturday’s episode of their “Morning Meeting” podcast as reported by New York Post.

“I don’t know what I’ll have,” Cooper added of his fortune, which is estimated to be $200 million.

“I’m not that interested in money, but I don’t intend to have some sort of pot of gold for my son. I’ll go with what my parents said … ‘College will be paid for, and then you gotta get on it.’

The broadcast journalist welcomed Wyatt, who turned 1 in April, via surrogate. Cooper had in 2012 came out publicly to declare himself as gay.

Cooper told Howard Stern in 2014 of his own inheritance: “My mom’s made clear to me that there’s no trust fund, there’s none of that.”

He also told Stern, “I don’t believe in inheriting money.… I think it’s a curse.”

However, Page Six exclusively reported five years later that Cooper did end up getting a nice chunk of change from fashion mogul Vanderbilt after her death, while his brother Leopold “Stan” Stokowski got their mom’s Midtown co-op.

Cooper’s new book, “Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty,” chronicles the storied history of his mother’s side of the family.

He admitted in Saturday’s podcast interview that his life growing up was decidedly different.

“As a kid, my dad [Wyatt Emory Cooper] did take me to Grand Central Station to show me the statue of Commodore Vanderbilt,” he said of the railroad and shipping magnate, “and that was the first time I had heard the Vanderbilt name.”

However, young Cooper wound up with the wrong idea.

“I just remember coming away [from] it believing for quite some time that all grandparents turned into statues when they die,” he quipped.

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