At a loss for how to baby-proof a house, Anderson Cooper turned to unconventional means. The CNN anchor used deer fencing.
Surely, fencing used to keep deer out will keep baby Wyatt from tumbling into something he shouldn’t.
Anderson Cooper joined his good friend Kelly Ripa for her morning show Live with Kelly & Ryan to chat about fatherhood and other topics.
“I think I need a professional to come in and do it because I’ve been doing it myself,” Anderson Cooper said. “Like I bought deer fencing. I went to Home Depot and was just like, ‘I’ll just get some deer fencing and put it up.’ “
Ripa said Cooper’s place looks like a “weird birdcage.”
Wyatt is almost 18 months old, so he’s probably getting into everything. Anderson Cooper had Wyatt via a surrogate. He and his ex, Benjamin Maisani are co-parenting Wyatt.
Anderson Cooper Wrote Book About His Famous Family So Wyatt Would Know Their History
Cooper now is on a publicity tour to talk about his new book: Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty. He wrote the book, in part, for his son so that he may know about his fascinating family. Although his dad’s family was from rural Mississippi, Anderson Cooper is related to the Vanderbilts, who more than a century ago, were considered one of the most powerful families in the world.
His great, great, great grandfather was Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt. There’s a statue of him outside New York’s Grand Central Station. When Commodore Vanderbilt died in 1877, he left behind a fortune worth more than $100 million. That’s worth about $2 billion in today’s dollars. He donated the money to build Vanderbilt University. The family really liked to build things, the more ostentatious the better. The Vanderbilt’s vacation “cottage” in Rhode Island is three times the size of the White House. The home known as “The Breakers” now is the biggest tourist draw in the state.
Cooper’s mother was heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. She died in 2019 at the age of 95. Her family had spent most of the money before she was born. Her dad was Reggie Vanderbilt, who drank away the family money.
“No one can make money evaporate into thin air like a Vanderbilt,” Cooper wrote in his book.
When folks ask Anderson Cooper if he’s related to the Vanderbilts, he tells them he’s a Cooper. He’s also Wyatt’s dad. He’d love to have more children. But he did get a late start on a family. He was 52 when Wyatt was born. He named his son after his dad. Wyatt’s middle name, Morgan, is a nod to the Vanderbilt side of his family.
He says his son makes him “happy and giggly,” even if his home is deer fencing chic.
Wyatt “does this thing where we go to a coffee place and he’ll walk around and look at people,” Anderson Cooper told People. “And once they make eye contact with him he’ll laugh. I love how he interacts with strangers and takes joy in them. I’m charmed by everything he does, annoyingly. And being there when he wakes up and taking him out of the crib, it’s just the best.”
