Anderson Cooper shocked by mum’s lesbian relationship in new interview

CNN anchor, Anderson Cooper, and mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, open up about their joint book, The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son On Life, Love and Loss.

In an interview with People Entertainment, Vanderbilt shocked Cooper when she revealed that she had once been in a brief “lesbian relationship” with a classmate during her teen years.

Vanderbilt explains that it happened when she was 13-years-old and was a student at an all-girls’ boarding school, Miss Porter’s School, in Connecticut.

“Cynthia, her name was, and she came once to visit my aunt in New York on holiday. We had this sort of lesbian relationship, and it felt so great.”

Vanderbilt adds, “I think almost everybody goes through [that] at one point… of course, the thing is, now we realise there’s no difference. Love is love.”

Also in the interview, 48-year-old Cooper recalls his earliest experience meeting a same-sex couple.

“I was about 12 or so, and I remember asking my mum about [her two gay friends] one night when they were coming over for dinner. My mum said, ‘They’re a married couple.’ And, of course, they weren’t a married couple in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of most people in America.”

Cooped said that memory made him feel confident he’d be accepted by Vanderbilt when he did come out to her.

“I knew that, ultimately, she would be absolutely fine with it.”

The pair will be featured in a HBO documentary realised later this month entitled, Nothing Left Unsaid.

The full interview with Cooper and mum, Vanderbilt, can be found here.